The Z Militia
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to Rock Man EXE: Corruption. The survivors of the Z - Nation have formed a wandering militia which strikes with switfness and overwhelming power. Yet, within this situation, the mysterious hacker who had been plaguing the Net Police returns. And this time he's going to go all out. Netto, Rock Man and others will be dragged into this hacker's deadly ploys. Rated M for lemon.
1. Chapter 1: Strange calls

**The Z – Militia**

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Chapter 1: Strange calls**

19:09 PM (Japan Time), Friday November the 10th, 2011…

"… Hah, hah, hah! This is life, man! There's no beating this _manga_ series! It's the ultimate series! Hah, hah, hah!"

Hikari Netto, aged fourteen, was laying face-up on his still untouched bed and reading a _tankobon_: he sported his typical blue pajamas and had a broad grin on his face.

"Having fun, Netto – kun?"

"Yo! Saito – niisan!"

The door of the room opened and Hikari Saito stepped in: he had changed into his pajamas, colored emerald green (like his eyes) and looked like he'd just come out of the shower given how he was making sure his hair's symmetry kept on being intact and that both sides were neatly combed.

"Phew! I must make sure that the symmetry is kept correct. Whaddya think of my new pajamas, though?"

"They fit ya." Netto grinned.

"Obviously!" Saito grinned as well.

Netto's Link PET rang and he groaned as he climbed down from the bed and headed over to the desk to pick it up and look at its screen which displayed the word "PHONE" in orange Alphabet letters.

"… Unknown number… I'd stake anything that it's another of Forte's weird sarcastic jokes." Netto grinned.

"Sure." Saito grinned as well.

Netto pressed the 'REPLY' button and the call connected: the screen was black, however.

"Hello?" Netto asked.

"May I recall your attention to the fact that you forgot to switch off the living room's lights?" An unknown male voice replied in a polite and elegant manner.

"Crap!" Netto uttered.

He jumped off the bed throwing the _manga_ atop it along the way and ran downstairs into the living room which happened to be pitch-black with no lights turned on.

"Huh? But they're off… Hello? Huh? They cut the call… Weird." Netto frowned and tried to ask of the caller how did he come up with that message only to realize they were gone.

He climbed back upstairs again and entered the room: Saito had picked a chair to sit into and looked surprised.

"Mama _always_ makes sure to turn off all lights before going to sleep…" He commented.

"Yeah. I wonder if it was Forte or Omega." Netto replied while looking confused.

This time, Saito's Link PET (colored green and white) rang, so he picked the call up.

"Hello?" Saito asked.

"Good evening. May I recall your attention to the fact that you forgot to flush the toilet?"

"Oh no!" Saito gasped.

He ran out of the bedroom and into the bathroom to check the toilet which had been flushed.

"Hey! I _did_ flush it! Where did you get the idea from? Huh? The call got cut!" Saito gasped.

"That Omega…" Netto grumbled.

"This is so weird! I understand that of the lights, but how could someone know if we forgot to flush the toilet?" Saito wondered aloud as he stepped into their bedroom again.

"… I've tried to look up the number, but it's a public phone cabin. I dunno where it's located at but there aren't any in a 500 meters radius." Netto reported after looking away from their PC's monitor.

"Forte or Omega – san yet I'd rather say the second. Forte has been turning serious again after a short period of becoming a prankster along with Zero." Saito concluded.

"Speaking of the devil, I got a message from Forte. He sure picked a weird email server: fortesama burninginhell co kl… kl? Aren't those the initials for King Land?" Netto frowned.

"And "burninginhell" means "_jigoku ni moeteiru_", too."

"The message reads the following: "YO! YO! YO! My dear audience! Get ready! Forte – sama and "Gospel Jr." are gonna treat ya guys to their long-expected 10 – hour long extravaganza! Look forward to it!" … 10 – hour long extravaganza! That's insane!" Netto grasped.

"Totally."

"Huh? This time a mail from someone named sg godscountry com… Who the heck is that?"

"Dunno but "godscountry" is "_kamigami no kuni_"…"

"… "Ladies and gentlemen. And such, the curtain rises again for the beginning of the second act. Please remember to switch off all mobile devices and remain silent. We do hope you enjoy the performance you are about to see… Thank you very much. S. G." … Weird."

"You know what? Let's pretend we didn't get those. If we don't react then the ones to laugh last will be us two." Saito suggested.

"Brilliant!" Netto grinned.

Both giggled under their breaths…

19:15 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Yeah. Another "accident" won't happen now."

"That was an accident, you say? That was an inevitably born from you lowlife's vanity."

"What?"

"It _is_ a good gun. But that engraving provides no tactical advantage whatsoever. There's a difference between utility and decoration."

"Shit."

"And… Also… You're also having one more fundamental misunderstanding. I won't be killed by you."

"Don't prattle!"

"And here comes the good moment!"

A guy was sitting in a chair which was placed inside of a bedroom and looking at a PC's screen.

He struck as being slightly over a meter and fifty tall over it: he had jet black hair which was totally messy while his eyes' irises were blue.

He sported a pair of black pajamas plus slippers.

"…6 bullets. That thing's max ammo is 6 bullets. The Makarov is 8 bullets. Your body should remember how many bullets are left. It's a hi-class gun. But it's not to shoot at people."

"Shit! We'll meet again!"

"Heh, heh! Good, Snake! You tricked Ocelot knowing that he'd wasted all of his bullets!" The guy grinned.

His Link PET (colored red and white) which had a silver lowercase _delta_ character painted as emblem began to ring: he stopped the YouTube video and reached out for it.

"Hello~?"

"Good evening. May I recall your attention to the fact that you've forgotten to switch off the microwave heater?"

"Crap!" The guy uttered.

He ran downstairs and checked the small kitchen: the microwave heater _was_ off.

"Hey! It's off! Where did you get the idea from, whoever ya are? Huh? Oh crap! They ditched me… Omega! The smug-faced guy is back at it!"

"Hiro – kun? What are you doing downstairs?"

"Coming…"

The guy named Hiro climbed back up and entered the bedroom where there was another guy there: he appealed as being a few centimeters taller than him.

His jet black hair was neatly combed and he also had blues irises: his facial features were highly reminiscent of that of Saito's yet the shape of his cheekbones was slightly different.

He sported brownish pajamas plus slippers.

"What happened?"

"Dunno, Drake. I guess I got trolled by Omega."

"Really?"

Hiro left the Link PET on the charger but it suddenly rang again so Drake picked it up.

"Good evening?"

"May I recall the attention of Tenishi Drake to the fact that he forgot to clean his teeth tonight?" The same dude announced.

Drake blushed a lot and ran off the bedroom and into the bathroom to pick his toothbrush: there were some traces of mint toothpaste.

"Hey! I _did_ clean my teeth tonight!" Drake gasped.

He ran back into the bedroom but found Hiro letting out a string of curses: the dude had obviously interrupted the call while they'd both been distracted.

"By all the… This guy is worse than Forte or Zero. It's gotta be Omega: only he would think of something like that." Hiro cursed.

"Guess so… Huh? Mail…" Drake checked the PET.

"Who sends it?" Hiro looked over his right shoulder.

"Omega. Omegasama fightinginthenaraku co ar… "AR" is the email code for Argentina. I dunno why he picked such an out-of-the-usual server to mail this…" He frowned.

"Is it me or did I pick the word "_Naraku_" in the server name?"

"Oh! True! _Naraku ni tatakauzo_… Weird." Drake translated.

"Over here, too… SG purazumadan net… Dunno if "SG" is a name or the initials of some group yet… "purazumadan"? Plasma Gang? Isn't that the villain team in _Pokémon Black & White_? The ones who wanna free the Pokémons?" Hiro recalled.

"True. Yet this email from Omega merely says "gotcha"…"

"And this one's larger… "The climber will climb upwards until he reaches the snowing peak of Mt. Shirogane where he will be met with the greatest challenge ever: Red." … _Reddo_? _Akai_? How's that a threat? And where's Mt. Shirogane, anyway?" He frowned.

"Ah! _Pokémon Heart Gold & Soul Silver_! The secret battle against Pokémon Trainer Red: the protagonist of _Fire Red _and _Leaf Green_!" Drake recognized.

"Omega's now getting into _Pocket Monsters_, huh? Anyway! Let's leave him to troll around and go sleep already. We don't wanna oversleep tomorrow, do we?" Hiro yawned.

"Sure thing… Let Omega send mails in vain: they aren't funny at all. He who laughs last laughs better."

19:19 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Yeah! With this new Program Advance… I'm so gonna beat that Hiro jerk!"

"Guts, guts! Dekao – sama is the king! Guts!"

Ooyama Dekao was trying to come up with another of his so-called "flawless strategies" while working with his Battle Chip Folder: he looked eager and Guts Man was fueling his ego until the Link PET rang and Dekao picked it up.

"Yeah? Who's that?" Dekao questioned.

"May I recall the attention of Ooyama Dekao to the fact that he forgot to buy his favorite snacks?" The male voice announced.

"Ah! My snacks…!" Dekao gasped.

He suddenly spotted a half-empty bag of them to the right of the LCD screen connected to his PC and frowned.

"Hey! I _have_ the snacks!" Dekao protested.

"May I recall the attention of Guts Man EXE to the fact that he forgot to punch his own face?" The male voice announced next.

"Guts!"

Guts Man, being the nitwit Navi he was, actually punched his own face and fell flat on the ground, K.O.

"Guts Man!" Dekao gasped.

"Guts…" Guts Man muttered.

"Who are ya?" Dekao demanded.

"Heh, heh, heh."

"What a…! He cut me off! I, Ooyama Dekao – sama, will beat this jerk a thousand times! Get ready, weakling! I'll blow you until ya reach the Bahamas!" He boasted.

19: 22 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Do… Re… Mi… Mi… Fa… Sol… Re… Fa…"

Sakurai Meiru was finishing memorizing a piano lesson: tonight she sported a pink night gown and a reddish bath robe over it and she looked tired.

"Fua~h… Huh? PET's ringing… Maybe they rang the mistaken number, even. Good evening… Who is it?" She asked.

"May I recall the attention of Ms. Sakurai Meiru to the fact that she forgot to memorize Beethoven's _Moonlight Sonata_?" The same male voice announced in a gallant way.

Meiru gasped and began to madly shuffle across her piano lessons sheets for a minute or two before she seemed to realize something.

"But…! I haven't got to that level yet!" She realized.

"Who are ya?" Roll questioned the caller while having not missed anything of what had occurred.

"May I recall the attention of Ms. Roll EXE that she forgot to make a reservation for the beauty salon?" The same voice gallantly announced while sounding amused.

Roll gasped and looked up her schedule only to halt and frown until she suddenly realized it.

"Hey! We Navis don't have any need to go to the beauty salon!" She gasped.

"Heh, heh, heh."

"They fled, huh… Chicken. Guess I've somewhat overdone it when I went to Tooru – kun's house this afternoon." She yawned.

"We need to talk about that, too!" Roll reminded her.

"Later. I need to sleep."

Roll got a twitch over the right eye while Meiru shrugged…

19:25 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I see! There's an incredibly vast diversity of sea life in the Mediterranean Sea! Huh? The PET…"

Hikawa Tooru had been reading a guide titled _Mediterranean Sea_ while laying face-up atop his bed: he wore a pair of brownish pajamas and had slippers on.

"Yes, yes?"

"May I recall the attention of Hikawa Tooru to the fact that he forgot to properly close his fridge?" The male voice announced.

Hikawa gasped and ran into the kitchen to check: the fridge _was_ properly closed.

"How did you know that, desu?" Ice Man questioned the caller.

"May I recall the attention of Ice Man EXE to the fact that he forgot to deliver the escaped Cyber Penguin to the Yoka Yoka Village Zoo's Cyber World?" The caller told him next.

Ice Man gasped and began to look around the house's Cyber World, taken aback before he suddenly realized something.

"What penguin, desu? They don't have penguins there!" He protested while sounding offended.

To both his and Hikawa's surprise, the call had ended and both could only blink in consternation.

"Guess it's that Navi named Omega…"

"Guess so, desu."

"Fua~h… I feel tired. Guess Sakurai – san _did_ overdo it today but not like I can protest, anyway…" He muttered.

"I'm off to sleeping, desu!"

Ice Man vanished from the PET while Hikawa resumed reading the guide while rubbing his back…

19:28 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hah! Next time I'm joining the fun."

"Yaito – sama…"

Ayanokouji Yaito was drinking some of her strawberry milk inside of her big and gallant bedroom.

She wore a pink night gown and was sitting on a chair next to a marble-made desk and was giggling while Glyde looked defeated.

"Tee, heh, heh."

An incoming call made the Link PET rang so Yaito picked it up before Glyde could react.

"Papa?" She asked.

"May I recall the attention of Ms. Ayanokouji Yaito to the fact that she forgot to order a restocking of strawberry milk?" The same male voice gallantly announced.

"What in the…! Glyde! Check the stock ASAP!" Yaito ordered while looking horrified.

"Roger, Yaito – sama!"

Glyde checked it: the storage room was overfilled with it, even.

"We did order a restocking, Yaito – sama." Glyde announced.

"Then, how did this fella…?" Yaito frowned.

"May I recall the attention of Glyde EXE to the fact that he forgot to wash his butler's uniform?" The same voice announced.

Glyde looked around in a totally nervous way and looked at his own body armor before he realized something.

"Hey! I don't have a butler's uniform!" He protested.

Yaito grumbled upon seeing how they'd been tricked and Glyde sighed in defeat…

19:32 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmmm… Sleepy… Wanna sleep…"

A guy was tossing around inside of his bed while apparently having trouble sleeping: he wore a pair of greenish pajamas.

His hair was short in length and had a greenish coloring to it while his eyes' irises were blue.

A green and black Link PET (them emblem of which was two triangles missing the base and being intercrossed plus three round dots on the middle of the formation and to the sides of it: the whole set was colored bronze and set against a navy blue background) placed on its charger began to ring.

"Oh come on… Father calling again? What now…"

He yawned and reached out for it: he pressed the button to patch the call in and tried to pay attention.

"Father?" He asked while barely repressing a yawn.

"Might I recall the attention of Tomono Noa to the fact that he forgot to order his weekend pizza tonight?" The same male voice announced with some amusement.

The guy, Tomono Noa, jumped off the bed and began to rummage through his desk's drawers only to realize something.

"I _never_ order pizza! Who came up with that affirmation?" He muttered while frowning.

"What's going on?"

"Oh. Rafael…"

"May I recall the attention of Rafael EXE to the fact that he forgot to replace the clips of his guns?" The voice announced.

"Oh crap!"

"The clips of the guns…?"

Rafael's main body color was black and he struck as being around the same height as his Operator: over a meter and fifty yet falling a bit short of reaching a meter and sixty.

His face had a hard-to-spot scar in the shape of the Alphabet letter "X" drawn above the nose: his eyes' irises were green and he looked youthful: spiked brown hair came out from behind the helmet.

His head was encompassed within a helmet having a copy of his emblem set on the forehead with a metallic rim: the forehead piece was colored red while the rear part was black.

A red stripe extended from the forehead and through the middle of the helmet while heading towards the rear: the sides of his helmet had white armor constructed over them: a small cavity housed the ear-pads from where a red stripe originated and was drawn across it until the end.

The helmet design also included two small yellow pieces extending until the edge of the lower jaw.

His chest armor had the emblem set on its middle: three parallel red lines were drawn over its upper edge and extended past the neck's base and apparently until his back: the segment below the emblem was colored yellow and it included a red stripe on the center which extended until the edge of the chest armor.

His shoulders had the shape of a red triangle drawn on their upper face while their main color was black: a thin round yellow stripe was present just where the arms began.

His arms' skin was also gray in this spot yet it soon got covered by black armor having a metallic piece of the elbow colored in a thicker shade of gray: the armor extended until the wrists where a trapeze-shaped piece of armor originated: his hands were covered in white "gloves" as well like most Net Navis.

Two thin red stripes ran down the unarmored gray-skinned body until the waist where another piece of armor was present: it had the general shape of briefs underwear and the color of choice was black as well.

Yet another red stripe ran down the center of it and curved to continue towards the rear.

One gun-belt colored silver was attached on the waist and had holsters for two guns which looked like modified handguns colored purple and having a white muzzle.

His boots began over the knees and extended until the feet: the color of choice was black again and there also was a red stripe running down the length of them across the center: the outer sides of each one had a white-colored triangle-shaped cavity which included a lower gray edge and a red stripe running down the rightmost edge: his heels' armor was metallic gray in color as well.

Lastly, two white triangle-like extensions protruded from the rear of his body and extended diagonally towards the ground in a SE direction.

"Ah! My guns don't have clips! Huh? Hey! He ran away!" Rafael realized and began to check only to realize that the call had been interrupted.

"What a strange man." Tomono frowned.

"Che! Next time I'm gonna tell 'im one or two things 'bout botherin' people while they're sleepin'!" Rafael grumbled while using a pirate dialect and register.

"Cool it down, Rafael. Let's go to sleep and we'll think about it in the morning. But I think it's a prankster." Tomono told him.

"Yeah. I'll go keep napping. Good night, Noa – kun." Rafael announced while leaning both closed punches against the sides of his torso.

Tomono fell asleep while Rafael checked an email icon behind him.

"Huh? "Go to challenge Akagi of Galactic Team in the Torn World if you may, _dude_."… What guts! I'll show 'im 'round!"

He took out the guns and spun them by the trigger area before holstering them and pointing at the screen with his hands' index and middle fingers while keeping the thumb upwards and the other two fingers closed up as if turning his hands into pistols…

19:37 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Man. These security checks take forever…"

Meijin was going over some security checks while inside of one of the Science Labs' security offices and looked asleep.

A cup of coffee was set on the table to the right of the cupboard and he looked about to fall asleep.

A Link PET he carried (with Gate Man's emblem) began to ring, so he distractedly picked it up and brought it to his right ear.

"Hello?" He asked, barely repressing a yawn.

"May I recall your attention to the fact that you forgot to pick your black coffee tonight?" The persistent male voice announced.

Meijin gasped and checked his cup: it was indeed his usual black coffee so he frowned under the glasses and scratched the back of his head, puzzled and confused.

"Oi, Gate Man… Who was that?"

"Dunno." Gate Man replied.

"May I recall the attention of Gate Man EXE to the fact that you forgot to visit your cousin Gate Woman EXE?"

"Cousin Gate Woman! She's gonna get annoyed at me again and…! Hey! Wait a min, you! I don't have a cousin and… Where'd he go to? The jerk fled! He gotta have guts!" Gate Man unconsciously began to mutter only to then gasp and snap outta it.

"That Omega guy again, maybe?"

"Maybe."

"Let's finish these tests already. I'm about to collapse anytime now..."

"Roger."

Meijin yawned and kept on working…

19:40 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I'm pushing myself again, I know, but this security system is important given the current circumstances."

Hikari Yuuichirou was working on the debugging of some complex programs and looked about to fall asleep at any moment as well.

He was focused on it when his Sub PET rang.

"Hello?" He asked.

"May I recall your attention to the fact that you forgot to lock your safe tonight?" The amused voice announced.

Yuuichirou looked horrified and ran towards his safe: it was securely locked and closed. He inspected it from all angles and made sure it hadn't been touched.

"Huh? Ah! How did you know that…?" He began asking.

He checked the screen and found it running its usual screensaver: the call had been interrupted.

"Strange…"

The PC beeped and he typed into it to check an email coming from someone named "bubblemansama pukuland com" so he frowned and tried to recall.

"Bubble Man? I thought he was a useless grunt. Let's see… "Puku! Hear me out, puku! I've invented the Invisible Armor, puku! _Check it out_, puku! Ya won't regret it, puku! Let's bargain the price, puku! Meet me at the usual place: Bubble Man – sama's Workshops, puku!" … Invisible Armor? Another scam… Really…"

Looking annoyed, he dragged the email into the garbage bin of the email server and then sighed.

"Let's finish this already!"

He resumed working and humming…

19:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Slow, slow and slow. My beloved public! Have those three grunts kept you so~ worried that you forgot me~? Heh, heh, heh!"

A man dressed in blue mechanic's overalls including a cap was sitting atop a worn out wooden desk inside of a dusty and abandoned-looking room having a wooden desk, an electronic blackboard and some abandoned devices.

The man carried a mask for the cold and the cap hid his sight so it was hard to tell his age yet he appealed as being close to two meters tall, even.

He had a laptop on his lap which he was using to check a list of names having the green "check" symbol next to it.

"Heh, heh, heh. Oh, I see. _Aibou_ is about to return to his _beloved_ Bermudas hideout. Why don't ya make use of the Rocket Gang hideout under the casino in Tamamushi City? Heh, heh, heh. But then Omega would sabotage all slot machines to make players be unable to win at all, wouldn't he? Heh, heh, heh!" He mused.

He inputted some commands and displayed the website of a Japanese newspaper: he examined the news and clicked on one titled "THE Z – MILITIA STRIKES BACK: IS THERE NO STOPPING THEM?" and which was dated November the 7th.

"Heh, heh, heh. Good job, guys. But I'm afraid I'll be stealing the spotlight for a while. I've prepared a show. And this show will overwhelm ya guys given its scale. _Aibou_ has been somewhat neglecting as of late, I'd dare to say! The public is going to learn about Sigaano Nogaano: the gentleman that I am. Or should I say the _Net Navi _that I am?" He muttered next.

He switched to a set of graphs displaying power levels and with the "OK" word next to each one: his grin grew wider.

"Good! We can finally raise the curtain into this drama. Come at me, ladies and gentlemen!"

He laughed aloud in an evil tone of voice…


	2. Chapter 2: Militia

**Chapter 2: Militia**

23:45 PM (Japan Time), Friday November the 20th…

"… A! Report."

"All nominal."

"B! Report."

"All nominal".

"C! Report!"

"All nominal."

"Good. Remberer, I, Lieutenant D, am in charge! We have to ensure that this storage server is untouched!"

"YES, SIR!"

"Knock, knock."

"Heh."

"By all the…! Intruders!"

Four military Net Navis had been guarding the firewall of a data storage server (represented by an armored cylindrical building inside of the battlements the firewals) were when three figures walked towards them so they drew Mega Cannon Battle Chips.

"Rubbish. Be gone. Missile Barrage!"

"Meteor Rain!"

"Moon Rain!"

"Guwa~h!"

"Uwo~h!"

"Kya~h!"

"Nya~h!"

A barrage of 16 missiles colored metallic gray with two orange bands around the head rained down on the four Navis along with meteors and moon-shaped spheroids: the combined explosive power annihilated them and damaged the firewall behind them.

"Hah. Rubbish. No worthy foes for Supreme Net Navi Commander Kratins Boo of the Z – Militia!"

"True, sir!"

Kratins Boo was a Net Navi close to two meters tall.

His face looked like a man on his 30s or 40s: his right eye had been replaced by what looked like a black eye-patch with a reddish dot on the middle of it while his left eye's iris was blue in color: his facial expression denoted seriousness.

His head had an unconventional type of protection built around it: the forehead was a reddish square piece with three pale blue shapes drawn inside of it: they looked like sensors to scan: two purplish metallic pieces followed it plus two greenish devices attached to the sides of his head: his ear-pads had the Alphabet "Z" character painted black drawn on them and set against a blood red background: black hair came out from the rear.

His upper body was colored green on the torso and its sides yet the area slightly above the waist and directly beneath the torso was white in color: the armor looked thick and resistant.

His shoulders were a mix of white and green coloring: his arms lacked visible elbows like in most Net Navis and his forearms' armor was rather thick and strong: it combined purple on the elbow area, green as the predominant color and yellow rims around the wrists: his hands were also covered by "gloves" like other Net Navis.

His waist had a golden ring built around it and the armor below it and until the knees turned black in coloring.

The legs' armor had been built to be thick and strong: it started with two white pieces in the form of the Alphabet character "L" facing each other and constructed above the hips.

The inner side of the legs was unarmored while the outward side of the legs was where the green armor began at: the knees were colored red.

His ankles had a golden ring around them and the armor slightly below the knees was missing thus exposing the bare black-colored "skin" normally protected by it: the feet had a reddish soil and were colored white yet the green armor partly protected the front and back of them.

Kratins Boo formed a mantle colored blue with golden edges around his body: it included a metallic structure over the shoulders which also helped protect the rear of the head thanks to its half-cylinder form: the mantle covered this body all the way until the feet and agitated as if there a wind moving it.

He also carried a large metallic black gun which had a square muzzle and a laser targeting system: it looked heavy and Kratins Boo was using both hands to wield it: the whole thing looked as large as he was.

"Moonlight, Sunlight! Move!"

"Aye, aye!"

Moonlight, on the other hand, was a female Navi about a meter and eighty tall.

Her eyes' irises were purple as well and her facial constitution was that of a woman on her mid 20s.

Long smooth blackish hair came out from behind her helmet extending until the heels: her ear-pads had the same Alphabet "Z" character drawn into them like the one Kratins Boo had.

Her helmet was colored black with purple edges and had a purple-colored hexagram drawn into the forehead.

Her main body armor was colored purple with black edges and drawings of the moon phases' (except for the new moon which was drawn in black coloring inside of the chest emblem and set against a navy blue background) colored white.

Her arms had black armor with purple rings drawn next to the shoulder.

These rings were placed before and after the elbow and at the start of the forearm armor which included a white knife-carrying accessor: 3 knives were inserted there.

She carried a belt with two handguns stored on it plus several grenades and two pouches for storing stuff: the _gekkou _(moonlight) _kanji_ was drawn on the center of it using white tint against a black background.

Her legs had white rings drawn on the hips, before and after the knees and on the ankle: she carried another two knife-carrying accessories there with three knives in each one: the boots were colored purple and had black soil.

"Sunlight. Deal the first blow, _otouto_."

"Roger, _ane – ue_!"

Sunlight's design was pretty similar to that of Moonlight's but his colors were orange and red instead of purple and black.

His face was shaped like a man on his mid 20s as well and his eyes' irises were a burning orange color.

The helmet had a red pentagram on the forehead and some reddish hair came out from behind it and extended until the shoulders.

His main armor had drawings of the Sun and the different eclipse phases: a total eclipse was drawn upon his chest emblem against a black background.

His arms were colored in orange color with red rings on the same spots Moonlight had: next to the start of the shoulder, before and after the elbows and on the start of the forearm armor which was colored yellow and had a knife-carrying accessory as well like Moonlight had.

He sported a belt with two handguns, the grenades and the pouches colored orange and red on his waist and the _taiyoukou_ (sunlight) _kanji_ painted orange against a yellow background.

His legs' design was identical to that of Moonlight as well given how he too carried the knife-carrying accessories.

His boots were orange with yellow soils.

"Sun Meteors!"

"Moon Meteors!"

"Missile Barrage!"

Two vortexes opened above Sunlight and Moonlight: the same explosive spheroids from before rained down and concentrated on one spot of the firewall while Kratins Boo shot a continuos large celuan laser along with the 16 missiles at the firewall: the combined firepowered blew a large gap open and they rushed towards the server.

"Anyone would dismiss this as being a private server given the low security detail but we know better." Kratins Boo announced with a smug smile on his face.

"Yes, sir!" Both agents saluted.

"Step back." He ordered.

Both did as ordered while Kratins Boo switched his gun for a cybernetic version of the RPG – 7 rocket launcher: he shot a rocket towards the armored door, and, since it had a bunker-piercing-head, blew the door up-

"Let's rush in: they'll soon send more security detail and we must be out before they come in." Kratins Boo ordered.

The group of three rushed in and stopped several columns containing data which they ignored: the deepest part of the server had a large spheroid with multiple cables attached to it.

"Let's begin!"

They ripped one cable and Kratins Boo touched the spheroid: a holographic screen popped out which displayed a download bar that immediately reached the 100% mark.

"We've installed our secret takeover program. We can sell the password to any Reverse Market dealer and make a fortune out of it. Let's pretend we didn't have enough time to copy the whole backup server."

23:52 PM (Japan Time)…

"… How is it?"

"… They only managed to copy 5% of the database. The rest is intact. They must've realized it was bigger than they expected it to be. However, the method they made their way in reveals that they were aware that this wasn't a private server."

A platoon of military Navis with golden armor and armed with Mega Cannons was patrolling the area around the assaulted server while a commanding officer escorted a technician who was analyzing the extent of the infiltration into the system.

"Hum! We'll have to look at the directory tree to know what they stole and the clearance levels they had. Call in the repair team and increase security to Red Mode." The commanding officer ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Various Navis saluted.

"Technician! Continue analyzing and try to find out the exact names of the stolen files, their worth and classification."

"Roger, sir."

"Sir! Security footage from the outside perimeter cameras… Like we though, sir! The Z – Militia, sir!"

"Damn them. We should be glad they miscalculated the size of the server and they didn't want to be caught and engage in prolonged battle with us Elite Troop. We need to report to Colonel." The commanding officer cursed aloud.

"How many attacks have there been already, anyway? 25~30?" One Navi wondered.

"Yeah, that's what the press said…" Another confirmed.

"What a bunch of persistant jerks!" A third cursed.

The commanding officer cursed under his breath and punched a wall out of frustration…

22:58 PM (Taiwan Time)…

"… General. We're back."

"How'd it go?"

"Perfect."

"Good! Another success. Heh, heh, heh."

The three Navis logged inside of a system decorated with the same Alphabet "Z" symbol which was Kratins Boo's emblem.

"True, General Sentou."

A communications window had opened and was displaying the face of a man on his forties, with a black moustache and hair: his eyes' irises wre brown and he had an evil grin on his face.

He seemed to be wearing a military uniform colored teal brown plus a cap to cover his head.

"How was it like?" He questioned.

"Perfectly. They don't realize our subtleness." Kratins Boo reported while saluting.

"Excellent. I've located a pro dealer: he won't ask anything. Go see him ASAP before they try to scan too deep into their own stuff and find out the takeover program." General Sentou ordered.

"Roger, sir!"

"Let's keep on! The more money we gather, the closer we'll get to restore our grip on the Z – Nation!"

"Roger, sir!"

"For glory!"

"For glory~!"

They laughed aloud in an evil tone of voice and looked pretty confident of their own skills…

0:07 AM (Japan Time), Saturday November the 11th…

"… What? Those three jerks broke into one of the _Pentagon_'s backup servers?"

"Yeah. It'd seem they didn't have enough time to drain all of it, though, since they didn't expect it to be so big."

"When did that happen, Red Sword?"

"Not even 15 minutes ago, Forte…"

"Che."

"Grrr…"

Forte, along with "Gospel Jr.", a version of the "Gospel" monster of lesser size and mass, was speaking with the Net Navi named Red Sword in a corner of the Reverse Internet.

"It's obvious that we Hunters' Guild will have to mobilize in order to track the culprits… And see if we can stand their ground against them this time around…"

"Let's hope so… Last time they almost pulverized you guys because you didn't account for their power output."

Red Sword had a wild flock of silver hair which came out from behind the helmet and covered all of his body's back.

His helmet's main color was blood red as well, yet the inner edges surrounding his thick red shades had a tint of purple to them: a purple band formed on the forehead and circled the whole diameter of it: two valley-shaped cavities had been inserted into the sides of it and they ended in golden circles: a "fin" sprouted from the top of the helmet thus giving it a menacing-like look.

His main "skin" color was black, yet his upper torso had red blood armor built over it: there were two black shapes drawn over the shoulders having a golden rim and a thin black line spread from the base of the neck to the lower edge of the armor.

An emblem with a black edge was set on the chest: it consisted of white and black halves split by a thunderbolt-shaped line: white was golden and silver was right.

The forearms were colored blood red and had two purple-colored parallel formations which originated at the sides of the emblem atop each hand's palm: they spread over the edge of the forearm while forming a pyramid-like shape.

His right forearm currently held a purple-colored Long Sword with a customized hilt.

The central body of the forearm was now colored metallic gray and had two purple circles colored yellow inside: a purplish-colored blade emerged around a cone-shaped purple-colored formation: the blade looked sharp and menacing for some reason or another.

His boots began slightly below the knee and had purple-colored diamond-like shapes which extended as high as the knee: they were colored blood red as well: the soils were colored purple, too.

"I know. Later."

"Later."

"Grrr…"

Red Sword dashed away while Forte brought the right hand to his forehead as if trying to concentrate.

"What lovely news. And everytime I try to face them I end up being pawned and beaten up: their teamwork and their long-range attacks hurt like hell. I dunno how many times I've had to be repaired at the Science Labs already but I'm not the only one: even Zero has trouble with those jerks! I need to improve my battle strategy or else I'll end up in a pinch one of these days… Fuck." He groaned.

"Grrr! Grawl! Grrr!"

Forte cursed under his breath while "Gospel Jr." swept his tail around the area as if wanting a fight…

08:08 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Enzan -sama?"

"Huh? Ah… Huh…"

Ijuuin Enzan woke up and looked around of his Vice President's office at IPC Home Office: his eyes had bags on them and it was obvious that he hadn't slept a lot as of late.

Blues was projecting with the Link PET's holographic projector and looked concerned.

"Enzan – sama. This is the third consecutive night in which you have slept in the office. Doesn't Enzan – sama have an apartment?" Blues reported while sounding concerned.

"I have it! But I just can't take work off my head no matter what." Enzan replied, yawning.

The Link PET suddenly rang to signal an incoming call.

"You're not gonna tell me it's the old man." Enzan cursed.

"I cannot be sure. The number is unknown." Blues reported.

"… Patch it through. I'll try to watch my tongue." Enzan gulped and looked nervous.

"Roger."

Enzan looked at the screen and was surprised to find it black.

"Huh… Hello?" He asked in a polite manner.

"May I recall your attention to the fact that you've forgotten to bring HN with you to Ms. Lucy's club and train him tonight?" The male voice announced.

Enzan turned deep red and looked totally baffled as he began to sweat, even.

"E-eh… T-that's… hum…" He uttered.

"Who the hell are you lowlife?" Blues hissed: he was obviously pissed off at someone having told something so rude to his master.

"May I recall your attention to the fact that you've forgotten to catch the Gapcom spy who is running away with IPC's latest invention schematics while laughing at your back?"

"What!" Blues uttered.

He rushed out of the Link PET and checked around: there was no – one and no – one noticed anything being out of place.

"What in the…"

Blues returned to the Link PET to find that the call had been interrupted and Enzan was looking at the ground: the red color of his face seemed to have grown in intensity, too.

"Enzan – sama! Please compose yourself! This is a trap by the competency to humiliate you!" Blues requested.

"Huh… I dunno who Ms. Lucy is, but "HN" is Hikari Netto…"

"But he is your rival, is that not right, sir?"

"Rival? Well… Used to be, yeah, but now that we barely see each other… Yet… Something feels different… Lately, I can't help but get obsessed with his carefree manner… His voice… His face… His eyes…!"

"Enzan – sama…?"

"… What am I saying…? Sorry, Blues. I'm behaving like an idiot and I know that… I now get what the caller meant, but… I'm not that type of person to force someone into it. I want to… talk it with him. I think it's about time to… settle this stupid hostility… And… try to find the caller."

"Roger, Enzan – sama."

Enzan sighed and unlocked a drawer to take out a close-up of Netto's face: he stared at it for a while and formed a weak smile.

_I'm silly, I know. But… Maybe… One day…_

08:12 AM (Japan Time)…

"… YAY! YAY! YAY!"

"What "yay, yay, yay", ya?"

"YAY! IT RHYMES!"

"Oh yeah?"

"YAY! I CAN TELL MY COMPANIONS THAT I MET _SAURON_ – SAMA~! YAY, YAY, YAY~!"

"Oh! Come on…"

"That's…!"

Blues stepped into a Cyber World only to find the "Eye of Mordor" floating in the air and looking at a Program – kun: he gasped.

"… I've told ya that I'm Mr. Universe and not Sauron of Mordor. I'm a copycat when it comes to avatars so go see Peter Jackson at New Zealand."

"NO! I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE SAURON – SAMA LOOKING FOR THE ONE RING!" The Program – kun replied.

_Why do they have to always talk like that? I dunno who thought it'd be practical to make their programming wholly in _katakana_…_Blues wondered while looking somewhat annoyed, too.

"YAY! ARAGORN - SAMA TO THE RESCUE!" The Program – kun announced while jumping off the ground.

"Aragorn…? Hey! Blues. My good old pal. It's been a while!"

"Who the hell are you lowlife?"

"Forgotten me? Sigaano Nogaano."

"The hacker!"

"Yours truly."

"YAY, YAY, YAY!"

"Oh come on. Shut up!"

The "Eye" looked at the Program – kun and he suddenly turned into stone: he stopped moving.

"Sorry. I woke up moddy this morning. The Dow Jones went down and the assests of a company I'd been invested in lost value. This bloody economical crisis…" He sighed.

"I find it ironic that a Net Navi who acts alone could be interested in such petty stuff."

"Well. Given how _aibou_ has done it, I thought I might try to copy him but guess I'm a rookie. Luckily I bought a very little portion so that my losses are not that big. Guess I'm gonna quit. I prefer Window Vista's Mahjong Titans to that chaotic thing with no rules and no logic." He mumbled as if being slightly annoyed.

"So you're back." Blues muttered.

"A gentleman is always loyal to his word."

"Where were you until now?"

"Dunno. Maybe I was playing _Pocket Monsters Platinum_?" He teased while sounding amused.

"Hmpf."

"Ah! I'll treat you to something."

"What?"

"My real name, of course." He further teased.

"Tell it."

"Tabuu."

"Taboo?" Blues frowned.

"… Huff. Write _taboo_ in _Katakana_. And read it as a Japanese word."

"Hum. Then… If I write it down in _Katakana_ and pronounce it… Ta – bu – u… Tabuu. So. You lowlife's real name is Tabuu." Blues calmly told him.

"Bravo." There was some sarcastic clapping.

"And I know you're just using the hologram to move around the Cyber World and that you're in the real world."

"Maybe you prefer this other one?"

The "Eye" vanished to be replaced by a character wearing purple clothes, a ca and a cape while having pallid white skin: he didn't appeal to being even a meter and fifty tall.

"Meet Sorcerer Gufuu of the _Legend of Zelda: Mysterious Hat_ if you may, Blues – dono." He bowed.

"Hmpf."

"I see you brought Anduril along. Or should we name it the Four Sword in this case?" He joked.

"Stop screwing me!" Blues growled.

"My, my. What would your master think if he heard you using such rude language? Should you not defend your pride, _samurai_?"

"I ain't a _samurai_, never was, never will be."

"I ain't a hero, never was, never will be. Old Snake's words in _MGS4: Guns of Patriots_, sick of everyone naming him a "hero"…" He countered with a broad grin.

Blues growled and tried to cut Gufuu yet his sword did no effect given how he was a hologram to begin with: he made an exasperated sigh and shrugged his shoulders.

"Too violent for my taste. But let's see what your friends think. I'm going back. Farewell, Aragorn – dono!"

Blues slapped his face in defeat as the hologram vanished and an evil-like giggle rang out…


	3. Chapter 3: Apocalypse Day

**Chapter 3: Apocalypse Day**

09:49 AM, Saturday November the 11th…

"… We've all gathered here as you requested, Enzan – kun. Will you now explain us what's so urgent?"

"I will, Commissioner."

Enzan had quickly requested for a contingency meeting of the ONBA and the Net Police: Yuuichirou, Meijin, Netto, Saito, Hiro, Drake, Enzan, Superintendent Manabe (a woman on her 30s, having brown hair and green eye irises, wearing a pink suit plus skirt) and Commissioner Kifune (a man on his 50s with a moustache and grayish hair, wearing a green suit) were sitting around the round wood table.

Hiro sported a red vest over a white shirt, jeans and black sneakers: his hair was messy like Netto's.

Drake had an open sleeveless brown jacket, a black shirt and jeans along with white sneakers: his hair had a combed style reminiscent of that of Saito's.

"Sigaano Nogaano. He's back."

"WHAT!"

"And I'd stake that he's behind the streak of prank calls yesterday evening, too."

"By all the…"

"And we have his real name which he let out. Tabuu."

"His real name is a taboo?" Commissioner Kifune asked.

"No. The irony of the name is that it _sounds_ like "taboo" but if you write it down in _Katakana_ and then read it _as a Japanese word_ then it sounds differently." Enzan instructed.

"Ta – bu – u… Tabuu, huh? No wonder Omega called him "Tab – chan" or "Tabby – chan"…" Netto muttered.

"Where was he?"

"A public telephone's Cyber World… Blues caught up with him thanks to the fact that he got engrossed talking with a Program – kun regarding the choice of avatar: the "Eye of Mordor"…"

"And he brought Gufuu out next?" Hiro guessed.

"True."

"Where has he been at?" Yuuichirou asked.

"He said that "maybe I was playing _Pocket Monsters Platinum_"… And he seems to be trying to figure out how the Dow Jones stock index works yet he doesn't seem to get the point of it."

"_Pocket Monsters Platinum_, huh? Giratina's appearance scares you out and that "Torn World" was freaking crazy." Hiro grinned.

"What was the Program – kun telling him?" Saito asked.

"He thought Tabuu was Sauron in person." Blues summarized.

"It's no surprise." Drake raised an eyebrow.

"And then he told me I was Aragorn." Blues growled.

"What single-minded dude." Hiro looked like he didn't find it funny, either, as evidenced by his face.

"Oh yes. Truly." An unknown voice added.

"What were you saying, Saito?" Hiro asked him.

"Huh? Me? I wasn't saying anything." Saito seemed to snap out of thinking about something.

"That wasn't niisan's voice." Netto corrected.

"Look in your empty PET, Hikari Sr." The voice suggested.

"Huh? Wha! Sigaa… No! Tabuu!"

"What!"

"Heh, heh, heh."

A life-sized hologram of Gufuu suddenly appeared in the middle of the table: he made a reverence and everyone looked baffled before he looked up with an evil look to his face.

"Hello there, ladies and gentlemen. Did you dream of crazy pranks this night?"

Everyone grumbled as if to prove their annoyance: Gufuu didn't change his expression at all.

"By the way! You're all gonna boil like if you were coal-boiler-driven-writing-machines: that's the message." Tabuu announced.

"Coal-boiler-driven-writing-machines have never existed." Commissioner Kifune sentenced.

"Ask _Don_ Francisco Ibañez about it." Tabuu calmly replied.

"_Don _Francisco Ibañez?" Enzan frowned.

"By the way… Yesterday marked the 27th success of the trio."

"The trio? The Z – Militia? I dunno if you overpowered them or what but they're proving to be rather annoying." Enzan grumbled.

"Aren't they? But that's their true power, ya see."

"Anyway! What are you up to this time around? And where are Proto and the copied Serenade?"

"What am I up to? Hard to say: I still dunno. I'm like a scriptwriter in the middle of brainstorming a movie's script. I dunno how it'll end up like or even if this draft will be accepted." Tabuu admitted while singing a tune.

"And what about…?"

"Somewhere outta your reach: maybe in Heaven?"

"Stop saying nonsense!" Netto snapped.

"My, my. Hikari Jr. has temper."

"This guy…!" Saito got a twitch over his right eye next.

"Hmmm… How about I tell you guys that I had the modesty of setting up some stuff around the Cyber World? It'll start up at exactly 13:34." Tabuu announced.

"WHAT?" Everyone gasped.

"Why does it have to be 13:34 of all hours?" Netto demanded.

"Be glad that it ain't 00:00 aka Mitternacht." Tabuu merely replied.

"Mitternatch… Midnight in German." Blues translated.

"Bravo. You could go sign a deal with the German Branch of the Gauss Console." Tabuu suggested.

"Who'd want to make business with the Gauss Console?" Blues growled while being clearly annoyed.

"Ah… I'd forgotten. They tried to make a plane crash because Magnet Man was busy stealing a program necessary for the creation of Forte's copies… My bad." Tabuu recalled.

"That has no relation with this." Enzan growled.

"In any case… It's 09:58 AM. You've got slightly over 3 and a half hours before they start up. When they do, you can welcome Apocalypse Day, ladies and gentlemen." Tabuu announced.

"WHAT?"

"And these devices can affect the Real World, too. I'll give one hint: Moon plus Sun equals to X. Bye-bye." Tabuu added.

He made another reverence, giggled, and warped out: everyone was frozen in place.

"Moon plus Sun equals to X! We gotta crack that!" Enzan rallied.

"And it's just 10: 00 AM! We have 3 hours and 30 minutes to do that!"

"Let's hurry!"

09:02 AM (Taiwan Time)…

"… It's been a while, Moonie~, Sunny~ and Kratins Boo~! Uncle Sigaano dropped by!"

"Sigaano! You lowlife!"

"Hey! Who was the one who told ya guys where Corruption was at so that you could free the guy?"

"Che."

"Lemme tell you guys something. My name's Tabuu. And today at 13:34 PM will become Apocalypse Day!"

"WHAT!"

Gufuu had shown his hide to the Z – Nation trio and they gasped when they heard his announcement: Gufuu kept his evil smile on.

"What's this ruckus…? Damn! Sigaano!"

"_Que sera~_,_ sera~_!" He sang.

"Stop screwing me~!" General Sentou yelled.

"Stop intimidating me~!"

"Who intimidates you lowlife?"

"Your aunt, General."

"DON'T SCREW ME~!"

"My, my. Confirmed. Bribes, favors, blackmail, extortion. Those helped you climb up so far. I have the whole stuff and I have already given it to the UN investigation team in the Z – Nation. They have more than enough stuff to judge you for when ya end up there. Bye-bye~!"

Gufuu vanished and General Sentou roared: sounds of glass and wood getting shattered in a violent manner rang out while the three Navis sighed in defeat.

"We're in trouble." Kratins Boo grimly muttered.

10:57 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Any luck, Rock Man?"

"No, Delta."

"Damn. I didn't find anything weird, either."

"If only we knew what we were looking for… Gufuu has been spotted deep in the Reverse Internet but the Hunters' Guild and Forte didn't find anything out of the ordinary. Then again he showing up there could be a fake lead…"

"Che… It's almost 11 hours! We have two hours and 30 minutes to try to figure it out!"

Rock Man had met up with a Net Navi in a corner of the Official Square to discuss the results of their insofar fruitless search.

His face looked strikingly similar to Rock Man's although he had some slight differences regarding the eyes' irises (which were blue) and the shape of his cheek bones.

The central part of his helmet had a murkier silver color to it plus two rectangles and one band cutting across it starting at the back: some jet black hair came out from behind the helmet as well.

Delta's main body color was jet black.

His forearms, boots, shoulder plates, rear-pack and helmet were painted silver.

His emblem was the same _delta_ character set on his chest and ear-pads:.

Overall, he looked extremely similar to Rock Man and seemed to be around his height as well.

"Guts, guts! Nothing beneath the stones, gutsu!" Guts Man suddenly exclaimed after lifting a stone.

"Search harder! I heard there was a treasure hunt! Well then! Ooyama Dekao – sama is gonna claim it first!"

"You moron. When will you try to use the head and not the useless stomach?"

"Yikes!"

"Roll – chan! Gattsu!"

"This ain't a treasure hunt! We're looking for a machine: some kind of machine set up recently by a hacker which is supposed to be powerful enough to interact with the Real World too!" Roll snapped at them while looking annoyed.

"W-whoa!" Dekao gasped.

"You heard Roll. Ookarada." Meiru icily told him next.

"Wha! S-sorry!"

"Dekao – kun…" Hikawa mumbled.

"He is Valentia's Moon, desu!"

"Wha~t?"

"Please! Let us cooperate, ladies and gentlemen!" Glyde tried to calm them down.

"Oi, Ookarada! Search under the Mettools' hard-hats! Then ya will find that stuff for sure~! Take that one on, Fatman!" Yaito taunted with a broad grin.

"Yaito~!"

"Any luck, Raf?" Tomono asked Rafael.

"Nope, Noa – kun." He sighed.

"Blizzard Man – sama here~! Nothing in the cold storage buildings attached to factories…"

"Cloud Man – sama here: Blizzard Man, you twit! Search somewhere elsewhere, you moron!"

"Wha~t? You're one to speak, Cloud Man!"

"Silence! Blizzard Man, Cloud Man! When will you stop fighting each other out of nothing?"

"Phew. About time ya got here, Cosmo Man! These two were starting to behave like quarreling ducks again."

"Indeed, Delta – dono."

"I'm here, sir! I didn't find anything at all, either, Delta – dono, sir. I apologize, sir. I can't seem to spot anything out of place." Red Sword apologized as he came in.

"Not even the Hunters' Guild could crack the enigma… Lovely panorama, truly… Has anything been leaked, by the way?" Netto growled before asking Rock Man.

"Doesn't look like it… The number one item in the news is a total solar eclipse which is gonna happen in a while." Hiro replied.

"Ah! Moon plus Sun equals to x… He meant a total solar eclipse! Both the Moon and the Sun "merge" or "fuse", at least as seen from Earth! Is that eclipse gonna reach its max point at 13:34, by any chance? Please tell me it does!" Rock Man suddenly realized.

"By all the…! It's true!" Delta checked.

"Now we know _why_ it had to be 13:34. But this doesn't answer what we're supposed to look for." Netto grumbled.

"It doesn't." Hiro grumbled as well.

"Anyway! Let's keep on looking. Maybe there's somewhere we've skipped, like the Reverse Internet or the Graveyard." Rock Man suggested.

"I'll get back at ya, cloud-riding punk!"

"Bring it on, ski slope punk!"

"Halt! Halt! HALT!" Cosmo Man commanded.

"Many Cloud!"

"Snow Rolling!"

"By all the…! Stop!" Red Sword called out.

"Shaddup!"

"STOP!" Delta roared.

Both stopped and bowed in front of Delta to apologize.

"By all the…! Damn it! What are you, Wild Pokémon? Be the prideful "Darkloids" you guys are! Where's the honor in that? Huh? Well?" He snapped at them.

"W-we got side-carried!" They apologized.

"Then go in separate directions! Do you want the pride of the whole Hunters' Guild to go down because of you twits? Go! And bring results by the time you return! Else I'm going to get VIOLENTLY DISGUSTED! Get it, you morons?" He roared.

"R-roger!"

"NOW!"

They both ran off in opposite directions while Delta fumed: Rock Man rolled his eyes, Cosmo Man grumbled and Red Sword remained silent while the others didn't comment.

"Anyway! Let's resume searching! Maybe if we try to look up data on eclipses we can figure something out." Delta suggested.

"Acknowledged."

"I shall be going, then."

"Guts, guts. Ekripzez?" Guts Man wondered.

"ECLIPSES!" Roll snapped at him.

"Whoa! Guts Man is sorry, de guts!"

"Desu… Guts Man… Desu…" Ice Man sighed in defeat.

"Now, now! Ladies and gentlemen!" Glyde tried to calm them down before the thing escalated.

"Let them be, Mr. Butler. They won't change!" Rafael sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Now, now. Let's try to be positive!" Tomono encouraged.

"Were it so easy!" Hikawa muttered.

"What was that?" Meiru asked.

"I'm being defeatist."

"Oh come on! Aren't you a guy? Show some guts!"

"Eh… Meiru – chan!" Yaito whispered.

"What."

"… You know!"

"Ah! Alright, alright."

"Trouble." Noa grimly muttered.

"We're getting nowhere! Let's resume searching already!" Netto tried to stop the gloomy mood.

"When did ya become the CO, anyway?" Meiru dully asked.

"Now's not the time to fight over that: else that Tabuu guy is gonna make fun of us, ya know!" Hiro grumbled.

"Fine. We'll settle this later. See ya."

"I think you're overdoing it." Yaito muttered.

"She IS overdoing it." Tomono fumed.

"Guess that." Hikawa dully muttered.

"Sheesh. Almost like that guy's busting our morale from behind the scenes, even…" Rock Man complained.

"Ignore them. Let's go!" Delta rallied.

_Sheesh. Tabuu! Show your hide and battle us already! Damn it all._

12:25 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Damn. An hour away from the eclipse deadline and we haven't found _anything_?"

"Unfortunately, that is the case, Enzan – sama."

"Well. Guess it's time to boil my brains."

"We should try to create an overall picture going by the hint, Enzan – sama, then?"

"Yeah. Lemme think."

Enzan got pissed off once Blues presented him with a report so he folded his arms and tried to focus.

"The hint is "eclipse", Enzan – sama."

"… Eclipse… What happens during an eclipse? The world is covered by the "Dark"… "Dark"… "Obscurity"… Hmmm…"

"What do you make out of it, Enzan – sama?"

"… Blues! Search any games in which an eclipse, be it real or magic, happens. See if it's supposed to provoke something." Enzan ordered, having had a hunch.

"Roger, Enzan – sama. Any specific parameters?"

"Try videogames first, then _manga_, then _anime_ and save the movies for the last. Narrow the the search with the keywords "eclipse", "Dark", "catastrophe", "disaster" and others you can think of. Go!"

"Roger, sir."

Enzan picked a pair of binoculars and placed a filter over them: he looked out at the skies to see the eclipse being underway.

"Damn. We gotta figure it out soon or else…!"

He lowered the binoculars and looked out at the city landscape while making a grimace…

12:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Over there! That's as far as you come, Tabuu!"

"My, my. Forte. It's been a while."

"What were you doing over there?"

"Ask Major Ames."

"Very funny. Now answer me."

"Maybe the will of Nebula Grey moves me?"

"Damn. Bothersome Nebula Grey…!"

"Kidding."

"Stop screwing me!"

Forte had caught up with Gufuu somewhere in the Cyber World: the area had black and white tiles with brown edges and sat atop a "lake" while a soothing blue light illuminated it: Gufuu had been giving the back to Forte and working on something involving a set of squares in a plaza isolated from the main road: he turned around and smiled at him.

"Go read _Pokémon Special_."

"Confess what the "eclipse" and "Apocalypse" day mean."

"May I introduce you to a good old pal of mine?" He grinned.

"Uwah! Guah! Grah! S-so fast…! Hell's Buster! What! T-that's…!"

"Allow me to introduce you to _Deoxys_, the outer space or DNA Pokémon! He can switch forms to increase speed, attack or defense or another form in which they all are balanced. Heh, heh, heh."

Indeed: Deoxys' normal form was sparring with Forte who was using his Dark Arm Blades to try to keep him at bay.

"Goodbye. Enjoy."

Forte cursed under his breath while Gufuu vanished while giggling…

13:14 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I shall no offer no excuses but the search was impaired by the low response from the Google servers which turned out to be bugged and had their speed cut down. I had to help the company fix it."

"Damn Tabuu! Anyway, what did you find?"

"I found this on a Nintendo DS game of recent production… And it truly matches."

"True! It wouldn't be way too hard to implement it on the real world at all! Let's… Ugh!"

"Enzan – sama! What's wrong, sir?"

"M-my head is spinning…! T-the coffee…! A drug…! T-the new secretary guy who brought it…!"

"Damn! It had to be Tabuu!"

Blues had brought some info to Enzan but once he tried to sit up he lost his balance and collapsed back on the armchair: he looked dizzy and unable to properly move.

"Enzan – sama! Hang in there, sir!"

"D-damn… I c-can't even open my eyes…! The world is spinning around me…! Ugh…! Gotta warn… everyone… Uack!"

"Enzan – sama!"

Enzan fainted and collapsed into the ground along with the armchair: Blues didn't see a figure creeping towards him from behind: he felt an icy hand touch him from behind and his body began to be encompassed in ice: he managed to look over his right shoulder to see a terrific sight.

"T-that's…!"

A tall man wearing a black cloak and having a theater mask on along with long blonde hair was standing behind him and extending his arms and legs made of ice: Blues was completely frozen and the figure chuckled…

13:29 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh. Time to start!"

Gufuu was standing in the topmost spot of Tokyo Tower and saw a multitude who had gathered to see the incoming eclipse climax: he giggled and snapped his right hand's fingers.

"Loading."

The whole tower frizzled with purple-colored electrical plasma: it began to shine and charge energy.

"Another two minutes and 50 seconds… Just in time."

"Oi. Look."

"What's happening?"

"Are they testing a new illumination?"

"Could be…"

Gufuu smiled as heard the murmuring of the persons on the ground level: his eyes shone with malice and he lifted his arms.

"NOW!"

Indeed: the eclipse had reached the max point, yet, at the same time, a purplish fog began to spread while a purple-colored dome of energy formed and expanded thus occupying several street blocks with the epicenter being Tokyo Tower itself.

"And for the Cyber World…"

A holographic screen displayed black towers rising out of nowhere in the Cyber World and forming the same domes.

"Now the "Dark" Viruses shall materialize and form chaos! Will this be enough to draw you out of hiding, _aibou_? Don't disappoint me! I've been waiting to pity my wits against yours! Mwa, hah, hah!"

He laughed aloud in a victorious tone of voice…


	4. Chapter 4: Chaos

**Chapter 4: Chaos**

13:55 PM (Japan Time), Saturday November the 11th…

"O~w… My head… What a headache!"

Enzan was regaining consciousness and the first thing he felt was an aching headache as he tried to sit up from the floor.

"Damn Tabuu! Tricking me like this…! Huh? What's that! By all the…! T-that's…!"

Enzan managed to sit up and ran towards the window to look outside: he spotted the purple and apparently impassable wall of purple energy barely five meters next to the tower: the thickness of it made it impossible to see what was going on inside of them.

"E-Enzan – sama…!"

"Blues! What happened?"

"S-some kind of masked man… froze me…! His legs and arms…! Were made of ice…!" Blues reported as he somehow managed to shake off the remaining ice on him.

"As you can see… It's like I'd deduced: Tabuu has set some customized "Dimensional Converters" to project this "area" in which powered-up Viruses can materialize. And he's done the same thing inside of the Cyber World, too… No wonder he called it Apocalypse Day… It sure fits the whole mood... And he's a horrible rip-off loving jerk… He picked this from _Golden Sun: Pitch-black Dawn_!" Enzan muttered aloud what he'd realized before growling.

"Yet, Enzan – sama… The eclipse is not progressing! It's still at the climax, sir!"

"That's impossible! This is not a fantasy world in which a device makes the moon end up blocking the sun… No device can have an effect on the movement of the Moon!" Enzan gasped.

"Wait a minute, sir. Incoming call from the Net Police."

"Patch it through!"

"Enzan – kun!"

"Commissioner Kifune, sir!"

"Where are you?"

"My office, sir! Tabuu snuck in and drugged my coffee to stop me from spoiling his setup!" Enzan summarized.

"What!"

"What's the situation out there, though?"

"Hikari – hakase has realized it by now thanks to intensive analysis. What we don't get is why the eclipse isn't proceeding. We've called JAXA and they're looking into it!" Kifune reported.

"… Anyway! Have the "Cross Fusion" users been mobilized to handle this emergency, sir?" Enzan asked.

"They have! And we actually used the Converters to save up travel time: this is a nation-wide phenomenon and not limited to the Densan City area." Kifune reported.

"What in the…! Nation-wide…! I thought he was targeting Densan City and its surroundings, like Yoka Yoka Village! And I believed he'd start it up from _our_ tower!" Enzan gasped.

"No. He used all of the tall buildings which were around 250 meters tall or above. And since those areas are modified "Dimensional Areas", people can't run from the inside. The whole country is in chaos!" Kifune reported next.

"Where's Mr. Zataki when you need him?" Enzan grumbled.

"Netto – kun and Saito – kun contacted Mr. Denpa! He's trying to get into contact with him as we speak." Kifune replied.

"… Guess it can't be helped. Commissioner. I'll take care of this adjacent area." Enzan announced.

"Good! Report to me every five minutes, Enzan – kun. We're still pending to find out _how_ to disable this." Kifune commanded.

Enzan picked the Link PET and placed it on the holster.

"By the way, Enzan – sama… If this is ripped off from that game, how are we going to find the device which is supposes to stop this process? The "Apollo"…" Blues asked.

"Damn. I hadn't thought of that. I'm sure that no matter what, we can't just go and destroy the Converters… If this is "Yami", then we'd need "Hikari" or "Light"… "Light"… The Link PETs use _infrared _light… Laser… A laser device…! There must be one set close to the origin spot of each area. If we use it and target the Converter then we can stop it! In the game, the Eclipse or Luna Tower's function is to _store up_ "Light". If hit with a brutal overdose of "Light", then the Dynamo which powers it up is going to enter "Reverse Drive" and release all of the accumulated light to cancel the process!" Enzan explained while firstly sounding annoyed but then realizing the meaning of it.

"… It must be it! It fits perfectly, Enzan – sama! I shall send a message to everyone immediately enough!" Blues announced.

"Good! I'm off to the parking!" Enzan announced.

"Roger, sir!"

Enzan ran out and stopped on the main office where everyone had stopped working and were looking at the dome.

"Did you see the new secretary guy?"

"Yes, sir. He said he was feeling ill so he went out for a walk… Maybe he got sucked up by that, sir…!" One muttered.

"Alright. I'm off to try to solve this. Don't mention this to anyone else. And all work is interrupted. No one can work in such a state."

"Good luck, sir!"

"Thanks."

14:13 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Damn! There's no end to them! Neo Variable Sword! Outta the way, you Viruses!"

"We should be glad Papa invented this technology, "Cross Fusion", which allows us to fight as one, Netto – kun!"

"Yeah! You're right!"

"Let's go!"

"We're getting closer to the goal, too!"

"About bloody time, too!"

Netto was fighting some black-colored Viruses inside of one of those "Dimensional Areas" while having somewhat fused with Rock Man at the same time.

This fusion, or, rather "Cross Fusion", had Rock Man's bodysuit over his normal clothes but with some design differences.

The helmet's design was different as well: a bright blue-colored fin-shape piece formed at the sides, emerging from the ear pads' upper edge and extended until the end of the helmet: an arch was drawn over it and the space inside of it had a deeper tonality of blue.

A complicated drawing was imprinted within the forehead and the helmet's front now extended until the start of the nose: his hair now flowed out in a more natural manner from behind it.

The plating over his shoulders had a more pyramid-like form and was aiming towards the NW and NE, respectively.

A pale blue border formed around it and a straight line travelled towards the emblem to form a curve surrounding the lower half of it: the curve ended with a small "spike" drawing pointing downwards.

His forearm design included a thin separation around the elbow: the two combined section formed a hexagon with a green jewel set on its centermost spot.

The short section set on the rear half of the elbow was colored navy blue while the rest of the forearm was slightly brighter.

The blue borders travelling down the sides of his upper body ended around the hips: two circular bands of the bright blue color were drawn over them with a small separation between them.

His boots' design was based upon that of his forearms: the soil was painted black and separated from the rest of the foot by a bright blue line.

The jetpack design had changed a bit, too, and it now included bright blue pieces connecting the upper right and left edges with the body: a curved red line was drawn half-way across it: the rest of the backpack looked identical to how Rock Man's usual form.

He was currently slicing Viruses as he climbed up the outside emergency stairs of a tall building not too far from Tokyo Tower: he stopped to regain his breath and pushed on forward until he reached the roof.

"There! Look, Netto – kun!"

"Whoa! "CF" Netto tells you it's cool. Heh, heh."

A device in the form of one laser cannon with a rotating base and capable of being inclined was set in the roof and it was obviously recent: the word "APOLLO" was written in _Katakana_ and using a yellow marker on its surface, too.

"… Apollo…? Ah! It's the Greek God of the Sun! Hence why this thing is named "Apollo"… Let's see if we can operate it somehow." "CF" Netto muttered.

"There's a control console over there." Saito announced.

"CF" Netto rushed towards the north – east end of the roof and examined the console: it was quite self-explanatory given how it had one joystick to rotate the base and another to change the angle: a screen with a lock-on mark was set on it and there were two buttons labeled "FIRE" and "CANCEL" respectively.

"This feels like a shoot-'em-up game, even."

"Guess so."

"CF" Netto maneuvered the machine and zoomed on the very top of Tokyo Tower: a purple-colored-gigantic-sized cylinder which had circuitry boards inside of it and electricity flowing through it had been set in there: the machine was obviously the source of the "Area".

"Five centimeters to the left… I decrease the angle in two degrees… Lock On! Perfect! This thing is already charged up to 100% power so it should work." "CF" Netto muttered.

"Netto – kun! Something is coming from behind at a high speed!" Saito announced.

"How much time do I have before it reaches me?" "CF" Netto asked.

"I'd say sixty seconds." Saito replied.

"It'll be enough. Fire!"

"CF" Netto punched the button and the machine began to hum and whistle as a golden-colored laser began to form on its cannon barrel and it looked about to shoot it out at any second.

"Good. Dream Aura! Neo Variable Sword!"

"CF" Netto engaged a Dream Aura to protect most of the machine and drew a Neo Variable Sword to deal with whatever which was coming towards him as he glanced at the console's screen where a countdown was progressing:

00: 18

"Gotta hold on eighteen seconds… And this thing can't reach me before twenty-five seconds." "CF" Netto muttered.

"Correction: fifteen. It's increased the speed!" Saito reported with a hint of nervousness.

A shape could be seen flying at top speed towards the spot "CF" Netto was at and it looked like it didn't want to stop or reduce speed.

"It can't be a _kamikaze_… Or can it?" "CF" Netto gulped and felt very nervous all of a sudden.

The thing suddenly shot skywards and made a parabola move to plunge from above into "CF" Netto's position: he prepared the blade and braced himself.

"Come!" He taunted.

The impact was brutal and even the modern steel-reinforced roof collapsed in this precise spot thus plunging both opponents down an elevator's shaft.

"Uwa~h!"

"CF" Netto was on the lower end while the opponent was above him: he hit one emergency lighting button to illuminate the shaft and gasped: it was Moonlight, who had a mouth guard colored purple (similar to Blues') and black shades on.

"You're - Moonlight! What are ya doin'!" "CF" Netto questioned.

"I'm gonna have a thrill." Moonlight replied.

"Huh? What "thrill"!" "CF" Netto questioned.

"Heh, heh, heh… Compared to the "treatment" I did to Akashi Hiro, this'll be a hundred times worse." Moonlight giggled.

They both heard the large and unmistakable sound of the laser gun on the roof shooting out its charged attack: although none of them could see it, the laser hit the "Converter" right on the middle and it turned it golden before it suddenly released a lot of light into the air and the dome collapsed until it vanished and the "Converter" exploded into a thousand bits.

"Say bye to the "Dark"!" "CF" Netto grinned.

"Wait… The radio says the eclipse isn't moving at all! This is so weird, really!" Saito whispered to him.

"I still don't get what stunt he pulled on us!"

"Hmpf! Like I care! This is fun! More, more and more~! I wanna have more fun! Nyah, hah, hah!" Moonlight laughed.

Both "CF" Netto and Moonlight kept on falling: "CF" Netto spotted a "Dimensional Converter" (colored navy blue) which was popping out of the shaft's wall, thus allowing him to remain in Cross Fusion inside of the shaft since the "Eclipse" area had been cancelled.

"I've had enough of you guys!"

"CF" Netto used both knees to hit Moonlight's stomach and he managed to break free of her grip before he switched the Neo Variable Sword for a Long Sword and stuck it on the wall: Moonlight shot past him and towards the unlit depths of the shaft.

"I dunno if she wanted to try to kill us along with her but we better get out NOW." "CF" Netto muttered.

"Yeah. Something tells me she's not gonna plunge to her deletion just like that." Saito agreed on it.

"CF" Netto spotted floor 17th's elevator doors so he forced them open and came out into the hallway to then begin climbing down the interior stairs and descending: the Dimensional Area kept on being active.

"I don't like this. This looks too well organized to be a coincidence even if they had no way of guessing who would be assigned where and when given this chaos." "CF" Netto muttered.

"Or maybe they've set this up at various buildings in which those laser guns are set?" Saito suggested.

"I wouldn't be surprised. But there are just 3 of them. They can't do this _everywhere_. They have to be physically present to pull such a stunt!"

He managed to reach the 9th floor sans too much trouble so he made a pause to rest without cancelling his Long Sword and he had a Bronze Fist ready on his left forearm.

"… It's too quiet. I know that the scandal out there has died but I don't feel safe." "CF" Netto muttered.

"YO, YO, YO~!" A voice rang out.

Some yells and shrieks began to sound inside of the elevator's shaft and sounding like they came from further down followed by the sound of a logout.

"Is it me or those manly yells ring a bell somewhere?" "CF" Netto sounded surprised.

They heard a sound which was someone climbing up the walls of the elevator's shaft: "CF" Netto tensed and saw how the elevator's doors were being opened from the inside.

"Yo~! Mars Warrior came~!"

"Omega!"

"Omega – san!"

Omega turned out to be a Net Navi who appealed as being over one meter and eighty tal.

His eyes were blue and looked amused while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached all the way to the floor.

A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.

He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.

He was holding a green energy pyramidal saber on his right hand which had a white trapeze hilt and rectangular handle.

"Been a while, eh?" Omega greeted with a smile.

"Been training in the Bermudas?"

"Yessir. And trolling Brad Shad and Stigma Man a lot, too. We dediced to start a Generation IV competition and insofar we've all cleared the Four Heavenly Kings and that _Madonna_ Champion."

"_Madonna _Champion…" Saito groaned in annoyance.

"We're now trading to fill the normal Pokémon Encyclopedia, too. Heh, heh, heh." He explained with a broad grin.

"Whoa."

"Anyway! Moonie~ was actually lurking in B1F and I dunno what she was up to but I told her she was fired."

"There's gotta be a trap."

"Yessir. Leave it to Anti Trap Man."

"Anti Trap Man! Hah, hah, hah!" "CF" Netto laughed.

"Please…" Saito didn't find it funny.

"Alright! I take lead. Let's go, Nettie~ and Saitie~!"

"Please…!" Saito groaned.

"Be glad! Ijuuin wanted to drag you guys to Ms. Lucy's club and force ya to be the "S" in "S&M", Nettie~!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to do that as some form of payback for the power plant and Ameroupe Castle…" "CF" Netto shrugged.

"Come on! Enzan – kun is not that type of person, Netto – kun! And you know it!"

"What about ya, then?"

"Huh? Me?"

"I didn't experience it: and they don't remember. But I know that, back in January, 2010…" "CF" Netto began.

"Halt right there! That was Nebula Grey and his program portion inside of Delta which triggered his lust. But that's over!" Saito protested: he sounded rather offended.

"Okay, okay! Topic settled. Were you planning on taking part or what, Omega?"

"I'd love to as a spectator. I wasn't built to take part into the thing, sadly enough. _Shachou_ is too… dry… in that part." He grinned.

"Jeez. The last thing we needed, really!" Saito groaned.

"Heh, heh, heh!"

The two of them climbed down the remaining stairs and stopped on the last flight of them just before the exit into the ground floor: an almost invisible string was set on the last ste and it was connected to a small bell which had been attached to the wall.

"I doubt this being here before." Omega guessed.

"Yeah. I get the same feeling, too." "CF" Netto replied.

"Hmmm… Let's make a check. I'll trigger this and toss a coin." Omega grinned.

He purposely cut the string and the bell rang: four virtual walls appeared and formed a cube along with a cover which then stood there, in the middle of the hall, and not doing anything.

"I knew it. There _was_ a trap." "CF" Netto cursed.

"Lemme check." Omega announced.

He walked next to it and used his left palm to feel the material as he looked at it from several angles, too and hit it with his knuckles as if to check its thickness.

"I see. This cage can nullify the effects of a Dimensional Area. They were surely aiming to get you inside of it, force you out of "Cross Fusion" and then that gal would come in and warp you to their hideout." Omega summarized.

"What a jerk. Anyway… Let's get out of here. Can't we disable this thing somehow?" "CF" Netto grumbled before asking.

"I have a better idea. We'll bring it to the HQ and reverse engineer it: we'll surely be able to turn it against them, even." Omega grinned and exposed his plan.

"I like how that sounds. By the way… Have you noticed? The street is still unlit…" "CF" Netto began commenting only to point out the oddity.

"That's true. I still dunno how Tabuu did it, but there must be a trick. You can't just project a 3D image into the air. It wouldn't create the obscurity."

Omega inputted some commands into a nearby "Dimensional Converter" and warped the failed trap away: they then came out into the street and looked around.

"Cancel the "Cross Fusion" already. The Viruses are gone."

"Cross Out!"

"CF" Netto spreads his arms and legs as the bodysuit broke down into a raw data and then reformed into the Link PET which ejected a customized Chip colored in a metallic gray color, having black patterns around the centermost green dome and the Hikari family crest on the SE corner.

"Phew. What a morning!"

"Yeah. I'm still here 'cause I used one of our Copy Roids to stay materialized… I'll escort you in case Moonie~ gets "mistress" complex again." Omega sighed.

"Netto – kun. A call from Enzan – kun."

"Speaking of the VP… Patch the VP in." Netto grinned.

"Jeez."

"Hikari. Took you long enough." Enzan coolly greeted.

"Says the man! I had to shake Moonlight off me and met up with Omega who helped me escape a trap set up by the gal."

"Ah. If it's because of that…"

"Are we making progress?"

"Yeah. There are only four or five left of the almost hundred ones there were over an hour and a half ago. I don't believe Tabuu set this up in just two days."

"Sure didn't."

"It takes a brutal amount of time to synch all of these devices and power them up as well as setting up those lasers… How could he do even if he's hiding in the real world, anyway?" Enzan exposed before asking.

"Hmmm… Maybe he built them in a secret location and then warped them there." Omega guessed.

"That makes sense." Blues muttered.

"Netto – kun, Vadous – san is contacting us."

"Oh! Patch him through!"

The screen was split in half and a man appeared on the right screen: he appealed as being on his mid-twenties.

His hair was of a jet black color and his eyes' irises were blue: his facial features were reminiscent of both Netto and Hiro.

"Netto – kun, Saito – kun! Are you two alright?" He asked them.

"We are, Vadous – san. Omega helped us." Netto replied.

"Good job, Omega! I found out Tabuu's setup." Vadous looked relieved and then let out a bombshell.

"What is it?" Enzan asked.

"Ah! I hadn't realized you were there, Ijuuin – kun… Anyway. He just materialized a _gigantic_ black screen and set it up on the appropriate angle and orbit to fit right in front of the Moon. Thus the Moon has actually moved but the screen kept on blocking the sunlight. I've hacked my way into an R – Nation satellite and will use it to blow that thing up."

He lowered his sight into his computer's keyboard and began to type several commands at a quick rate before he hit the 'RETURN' key as evidenced by the distinct sound it made.

"Don't look at it directly at it or you'll be momentarily blinded. I've already issued that message to the authorities via Commissioner Kifune."

Netto followed his advice and looked at the ground: there was a sudden flash as the sunlight pierced through the hole in the "fake moon" and the rest of it began to break up: the Sun was soon enough shining with its usual light.

"Phew." Vadous sighed in relief.

"Over! Finally!" Netto exclaimed.

"Yeah. But… Kzzzzz!"

"Huh? What happened?"

His screen was filled with static and Kratins Boo appeared on his place with a smug smile on his face.

"What the…! You must be Kratins Boo!" Netto assumed.

"Indeed, Net Savior! You may have bested Moonlight. But that doesn't mean anything. We're still in top shape. And there is no defense we can't pierce through. I just managed to take over the backup server and all of its info has been sold off!" He announced with that smug smile.

"I knew something about that robbery was bugging me! The 5% was to keep the technicians busy restoring the data so that they wouldn't notice a hostile takeover program inside of the register!" Omega grumbled.

"Why! It's Omega. This time I'm so gonna turn you into scrap."

"You won't be smiling for much longer when I tell you that even Tabuu fears my skills." Omega shot back.

"WHAT?" Kratins Boo was pale.

"Even _Tabuu_ fears Omega – san's skills…!" Rock Man was surprised.

"I know his weak points."

"By Jupiter! This can't be!" Kratins Boo looked horrified.

"Brag while you can, Kratins Boo. You'll soon be under UN custody. Hah!"

_Tabuu… You want war? We'll give you war!_


	5. Chapter 5: On the edge of deletion

**Chapter 5: On the edge of deletion**

10:10 AM (Japan Time), Sunday November the 12th…

"… Uwa~h… Good mornin'… Saito – niisan.

"Good morning, Netto – kun…"

Netto and Saito woke up while stretching and yawning the next day.

"Let's go wash our faces and do everything as usual. I hope Tabuu hasn't come up with anything else. But if that was the main dish, then the deserts can't be so bad…" Netto suggested.

"Correction: those were the pilot episodes." A voice rang out.

"… Did you say something just now, Netto – kun?" Saito looked sleepy and didn't seem to have realized it was someone else's voice.

"I'm not sure…" Netto also looked sleepy.

"They should make a YouTube video: the sleeping princes. It'd reach over the 10,000 viewers mark." The voice kept on amusedly listing.

"What sleeping princes… Omega. If that's your wake-up-joke, I'm telling ya I didn't like it." Netto grumbled.

"Omega – san…! Please stop already with those lames jokes, sir!" Saito yawned.

"… Waro~!" A deep and guttural growl echoed around the room sounding like it was coming from a wolf.

They both snapped out of their sleepiness and realized Tabuu's Gufuu avatar was in the PC's screen.

"Tabuu!" Both uttered.

"It'd seem you're hard to wake up, really…" Tabuu sounded amused.

"You jerk! I'm so gonna make you pay for all the overwork we did yesterday!" Netto menaced.

"How much?" Tabuu asked.

"Huh? What?" Netto was taken aback.

"… This: one million credits." Saito told him.

"Magnificent. I'll send it to Hikari – hakase's account ASAP." He sounded totally sarcastic today.

"Quit the sarcasm. What did you mean by pilot episodes?" Netto questioned.

"That of yesterday: it was a pilot episode. It means that the series hasn't really started. It was a teaser: an experiment." Tabuu announced.

"WHAT? That whole thing was just a teaser?" Both exclaimed in obvious disbelief.

"Yep. It's the _hour d'ouvere_, so as to speak." Tabuu announced next, sounding very amused.

"You jerk!" Saito cursed.

"Indeed." Tabuu confirmed.

"We're so gonna burn you!" Netto menaced.

"You'll ask a favor outta Hino Kenichi?" Tabuu assumed.

"Grftjx! Hinoken has nothing to do with this!" Netto sentenced.

"By the way… Do you ever decline a hi-risk mission?" Tabuu suddenly asked.

"We've never been in any hi-risk missions." Saito frowned.

"What? That of yesterday didn't get the label of hi-risk mission?" Tabuu sounded really surprised.

"No. It was the usual stuff. We had something similar a year ago." Netto shot back.

"Ah… The "Secret Army", so as to say… I see. That's why. The Net Police thought of it as a larger scale thing…" Tabuu sounded like he'd realized the point of it.

"Scram." Both told him.

"I didn't know you were so - blunt - truth to be told." Tabuu sounded surprised.

"Huh? What?" They were both confused.

"…"Scram" is "nigero" in Japanese… If someone was half-deaf, they could understand "negro", which is "black" in Spanish… And given its usual negative connotations…" Tabuu listed with obvious amusement on his voice.

"… You're fired." Both announced.

"My, my."

"Stop meddling with us!" Netto growled.

"Do you want to escape through the malevolent, blessed and repulsive door?" He joked next.

"Huh? How can a door be malevolent, blessed and repulsive at the same time to begin with?" Saito frowned.

"Ask Akagi."

"Akagi? Who's that?" Netto asked.

"Galaxy Gang's Boss. _Pocket Monsters 4__th__ Generation_."

"You picked that up because Omega – san and the others have been playing to that game, right?"

"Bravo, Holmes."

"Oi. Don't come up with that." Saito grumbled.

"I think they're calling for me. Now, if you will excuse me… I gotta get in the move. I think you'll get a call from Mr. Denpa soon enough. Maybe I'll have to move. See you around, gentlemen."

Gufuu giggled and vanished while they growled in clear frustration and annoyance…

10:45 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Any news, you two?"

"Yeah. The "Committee" found the real-world base of operations Tabuu has been using: the island which Wily was going to turn into HQ for his would-be rebuilt WWW…"

"I see. Given the hard accessibility of the place and his ability to warp with "Dimensional Converters" then he could jump back and forth from there without much trouble. Yet he'll switch hideouts from now on."

"Obviously."

"There's some stuff I wanna talk there at your place. Stay put. I'm on my way there."

"Yeah, yeah. But don't look at me like I was the source of all trouble."

"Hmpf."

"Enzan – sama, I do believe that…"

"Later."

"Roger, sir."

"He's not in the mood: that's obvious."

Netto and Saito were sitting in the living room's sofa and looking at the TV news while Netto informed Enzan of their progress: he kept on sounding hostile and cold and cut Blues when he was going to argue something: both of them shrugged.

"… And regarding the chaotic events of yesterday, both the Net Police and the ONBA released a press note stating it to be the work of a solo Net Navi who didn't believe in any states or ideologies and just enjoyed chaos. More information is to come as the investigation progresses. Fortunately no – one was seriously hurt and no casualties were recorded. It may be given how the Viruses were seemingly preoccupied with fighting each other instead of trying to attack the public. As said before, the motives and name of the Navi are yet undisclosed…"

DING DONG

"That's Enzan. Let's see what's so important, then."

Netto headed over to the door and opened it: Enzan was standing there, hands on his pockets and looking unimpressed: Netto merely headed back inside while Enzan put on the slippers and glanced inside before sitting down on a chair.

"So?" Netto asked.

"… No – one else is around?"

"Huh? No. Mama went to run some errands."

"Fine. Alright, Hikari. Let's settle this."

"Settle what?"

"What do _you_ think of _me_?"

"Huh? Well… At first you looked like a cold guy who refused to recognize teamwork and could be somewhat paranoid, but… After that. You've kept on trying to be the cold and cool-headed guy but that's because that's how you're _supposed_ to be while in public." Netto explained.

"Hmpf. So at least you caught that."

"Oi, I'm not in the mood to begin a quarrel. Tabuu would laugh at us if we did, get it?" Netto grumbled.

"Next weekend. Got free time?"

"Next weekend? The exams won't be till December, so I guess that we do have time. Why?"

"_Onsen_."

"_Onsen_? What… Is there something there?"

"Maybe." He shrugged.

"Hmmm… Enzan – kun. You seem to be hinting at the fact that you want to have some time alone with Netto – kun."

"Hmpf. Guess so." Enzan shrugged.

"So you've got an interest in him?" Saito smiled.

"Somewhat."

"Interest? You wanna make out with me? _Yaoi_?" Netto lifted his eyebrows slightly.

"Could call it like that, yeah…" He trailed off.

"Guess that leaves you and me, Blues. Or am I mistaken?"

"Well… Not really. It's just for the sake of the experience. Nothing personal." Blues confirmed with a smile.

"Yeah, I get the point."

"Alright, then. We depart on Friday evening and then stay there until Sunday morning." Netto suggested.

"Works fine with me… Besides, given how the staff has sometimes suggested me a good _onsen_ then we can go there."

"Hey. But let us share a portion of the expenses, too."

"If you insist…" He shrugged again as he stood up.

"And don't trust new secretaries!" Saito warned.

"Lesson learned." He icily replied.

"Later."

"Later."

Enzan headed out, put his shoes on and closed the door on his way out while the twins shrugged.

"Heh. It's gonna be interesting. I haven't made out in a while." Netto admitted with a shrug.

"Yeah. A nice experience, I'd say."

Both grinned and seemed to be looking forward to the experience…

09:58 PM (Taiwan Time)…

"… How was it like?"

"No dice: security is too high! I should've imagined it. Those guys aren't imbeciles, after all."

Sunlight was talking with Moonlight inside of their base: she'd returned from doing something and sounded frustrated.

"Did you really expect them not to learn the lesson, _ane – ue_?" Sunlight asked her with a smile.

"Che! Well, I forgot!"

"How atypical of you!" Sunlight joked.

"Stop with the old-fashioned mottos: do ya have a better strategy or what, huh? Spit it out!" She grumbled.

"Enough! Behave." Kratins Boo ordered as he walked over to them while looking slightly annoyed.

"Yes, _taichou_ – dono!"

"Enough is enough. The scout mission was successful in proving that we need to create an opening somehow. And then we can get in using that opening. Narrow down the possibilities."

"Roger!"

"What's this gossiping 'bout?" General Sentou asked.

"We're trying to find a chance to exploit information which we could use to our advantage, General."

"Extortion, eh? Good thinking! Keep at it." He grinned.

"Delighted."

"If ya thought we can't do anything then just ya wait…"

The four of them chuckled under their breaths but failed to notice Gufuu spying on them…

11:22 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Search better, "Gospel Jr."! I'm sure the reason that Tabuu jerk set that ripped off Deoxys on me was to hide something."

"Grrr!"

Forte and "Gospel Jr." were searching the area where Tabuu had shown the day before: they were seemingly trying to find a trace.

"There! That square. That's the place. Let's try checking the ground out and see if he hid something there: that bloody Deoxys warped me away to stop me from figuring out what he was doing. It had to be important, I daresay!" He commanded.

"Gospel Jr." scratched the ground and revealed a hidden Warp Point beneath a fake tile: Forte grinned.

"Let's go!"

He stepped into the Warp Point and appeared inside of a disabled Cyber World given its gray and white colorings and lack of any activity: the structure was a central cylinder with round platforms around it climbing up several levels: he spotted some kind of orange-colored energy dome covering the top of the cylinder.

"Over there, huh…"

He jumped from level to level until he reached the top and looked into the dome to gasp: a cloaked humanoid figure could be seen standing inside along with some kind of blue metallic hexagonal container with several locks around it and a central black stripe.

_The cloaked thing has gotta be Serenade's copy… And the container has the sealed up "Proto" inside of it…! Proto! The origin of my disgraces, my drama and the reason I still wander the Cyber World…! If only I could destroy it here and now, yet…! Whatever! Let's end this farce!_

"… Earth Breaker!"

"Grawl?"

Forte built up energy on his right hand and jumped into the air to strike the dome: the whole of the energy was split into several portions and travelled down some grooves on the cylinder: the Cyber World began to regain "coloring" and the cylinder hummed: some stairways also formed to interconnect the different levels and the background came on: a blood-stained Alphabet "R" symbol against the drawing of an orbiting satellite was used.

"R – Nation military satellite…! I see! Tabuu hijacked it. And this dome is designed to break down the whole power into fragments. Lovely. Now he'll know I've been here." He grumbled.

"Warning. Warning. Unauthorized access. Deploy defense unit "D" in "A Form"…" An auto-voice announced.

"Damn. I'm outta here."

Forte dropped down using the gap between the platform and the cylinder and then rushed towards the entrance only to be met with another cloaked figure.

"Deoxys Attack Form…! Damn Tabuu!"

Indeed: the Deoxys Attack Form cast the cloak and glared at Forte who drew both Dark Arm Blades.

"Pursuing Attack." The auto-voice announced.

"Damn."

Deoxys warped and hit Forte with his tendril-like extensions before returning to the initial position.

"Psychokinesis."

A purplish flash of energy was unleashed and Forte was sent flying across the room thus hitting a wall: he groaned and jumped towards Deoxys who blocked his incoming attack with the tendrils.

"Outta the way~!" Forte roared.

"Great Power."

A rush of energy focused on Forte and sent him crashing against the ceiling: he dropped down and panted as Deoxys remained immobile seemingly waiting for the next input.

"Taunt."

Deoxys formed a white glove and used the index finger to taunt Forte: a twitch showed up over his right eye and he lurched at Deoxys only to have his tendrils driven through his chest emblem: he tried to articulate something but was unable to: "Gospel Jr." suddenly broke out of a containment field keeping him at bay and bit Deoxys' arms before starting to jump over it and drive the feet's claws into the body: "Gospel Jr." then grabbed and bit the core section where the core was at: Deoxys let out a pitchy shriek and was deleted.

"G-Gospel Jr…! To the… Science Labs… hurry!"

"Gospel Jr." made Forte climb into his back and they rushed outside of the area and back to the Cyber World: he leapt some distances and then jumped into another Warp Point to enter a PC decorated with the Hikari family crest.

"Hi… Hikari… ha… kase…!"

"Forte? By all the…! Those wounds are critical! We need to repair those ASAP or you won't live to tell it, Forte!"

"I know…! Go… ahead…!"

"Gate Man! Zero! Help us out! Bring him to the repairs computer and remove those tendril things. Then we can proceed to the repair! Hurry it up!" Yuuichirou commanded.

Gate Man and Zero rushed in and pulled the tendrils out, which self-deleted: they then helped Forte head into the repairs computer: he closed his eyes as the white restorations rings began to circle around him.

"Tabuu. Only he could come up with something capable of inflicting so much damage." Zero growled.

Yuuichirou made a grimace along with Zero…


	6. Chapter 6: Feral

**Chapter 6: Feral**

11:57 AM (Japan Time), Sunday November the 12th…

"… WHAT?"

"You heard me, Omega!"

"Forte came back in a critical status?"

"Yeah. Hikari – hakase is trying to scan his memories to see what happened to him. But the wounds were serious!"

"Tabuu! That jerk! He's involved: I'll stake anything on that!"

Zero had met Omega on the Official Square and he looked dumbfounded, for once: he then made a grimace and started to curse.

"I left Gate Man on charge of him."

"Good. Let's go there and see if Hikari – hakase dug out something important from his memory files."

"This way. We'll use a shortcut."

"Roger."

Zero opened a VPN tunnel and they flew through it without spotting three cloaked figures following them through it: they reached the other end and headed for the spot where Forte was being repaired: "Gospel Jr." was stretching on the ground in front of him while Gate Man was looking at a holographic screen.

"Forte found Tabuu's hideout! An R – Nation military satellite accessible from the "Secret Area"…!" He reported.

"Whoa!"

"And he was attacked by "Deoxys Attack Form" whatever the thing is but it looks ugly enough in my opinion." Gate Man added.

"Deoxys? The Generation III "outer space" or "DNA" Pokémon? I know about the guy, yeah."

"Grrrr! Grawl! Grawl! Grrr!"

"Oh damn."

"They followed us?"

"That Tabuu…! Protection Field: Activate!"

"Deoxys Normal Form… Target: Gate Man EXE."

"Deoxys Defense Form… Target: Omega EXE."

"Deoxys Speed Form… Target: Zero EXE."

"Gospel Jr." had suddenly begun to growl and snarl: the three of them turned around to see the other three Deoxys forms there and Gate Man had to bring up a shield similar to the "Dream Aura" to protect Forte during the repairs.

"Normal Form. Available Techniques: Knock Off, Pursuit Attack, Psychokinesis, Snatch."

"Defense Form. Available Techniques: Knock Off, Caltrop, Psychokinesis, Snatch Attack."

"Speed Form. Available Techniques: Knock Off, Pursuit Attack, Psychokinesis, Speed Star."

"All forms' levels: 50." They announced at the same time.

"Damn them!" Zero growled.

"Ma no Te!" ("Demon Hand")

"Plasma Round!"

"Z – Saber!"

"Knock Off." The three of them announced.

They warped and hit the three combants thus making them flinch for a moment: they were hit by the respective attacks but didn't seem to mind them: the three combatants growled and prepared for countering by stepping forward.

"Speed Star!"

"Caltrop!"

"Psychokinesis!"

The Speed Form projected a stream of five stars which hit Zero and forced him to block: the Defense Form scattered some caltrops on the ground around Forte thus reducing the space for movement and the Normal Form hit Gate Man with the "Psychokinesis" attack thus pushing him backwards and making him grumble.

"Psychokinesis!" They all announced.

However, "Gospel Jr." leapt in front and took the blunt of the attack which bounced off his armored shell: it opened the mouth and shot a strea of green, red, blue and yellow flames which bathed the opponents and made them collapse on the ground.

"Now! Aim for the core crystal!" Omega rallied.

"Ma no Te!"

"Z – Saber!"

"O – Saber!"

The Demon Hand gripped and shattered the Normal Form's core while both Zero and Omega drove their sword weapons into the cores of the adversaries: the three of them were deleted amongst pitchy shrieks and they sighed in relief.

"Good job. But, unfortunately, during the fight, Tabuu broke into the backup data vault and copied Rock Man and Delta's backup data excluding the personality file like he did with Serenade… I dunno why he would want those." Meijin reported.

"Damn! Tabuu… You're starting to get into my nerves!" Omega growled in clear annoyance.

"Obviously! I wish to drive this sword through the guy's body!" Zero cursed aloud.

11:08 AM (Taiwan Time)…

"… Hello there."

"Tabuu! You lowlife! What do you want now?"

"Grant you a pair of gifts."

"Huh? Gifts?"

"They say an image is worth a thousand words. Let us make that gift show itself, then."

Gufuu had appeared in front of Kratins Boo and made a reverence as Kratins Boo aimed his massive gun at him seemingly out of instinct: Gufuu sounded rather amused.

"What?"

"Come! G – Beast! F – Beast!"

"GROA~R!"

"SKRE~H!"

"T-those are…!"

"Whoa!"

Two columns of energy formed in the middle of the room: they were colored blue and red respectively and climbed upwards while generating pulsations: their mere power was enough to make the air and ground rumble.

"W-what's going on?" Kratins Boo gasped.

"Such… power…!" Moonlight muttered.

"I'd never felt something like that before…!" Sunlight uttered.

"Heh, heh, heh."

"Oi, oi! What's this ruckus about?" General Sentou questioned.

"Watch."

The blue column dissolved to reveal a Net Navi who looked similar to Rock Man yet his body had gained some armor over his chest, arms, legs plus a helmet which all had a "beastly" look to them.

His helmet had the shape of a beast's mouth plus six triangles spreading in a formation colored golden: a symbol which looked like some kind of orange star was set on the segment of it corresponding to the forehead.

A black mouth-guard covered the nose and mouth while the eyes' irises had changed to blood red and depicted a wish to ravage and destroy typical of an unleashed beast: the ear-pads were black.

The chest armor was colored in a greenish color with thin goldenrod borders and three white shapes in the form of claws placed over the shoulders: the chest emblem was empty and black thus having no symbol on it: there were two pieces of reddish armor built directly underneath the main one.

The forearm armor started slightly below the elbows and contained a red segment before the main piece which had two claws protruding from it and over the hands.

The feet armor started below the knee and included two goldenrod diamond-like shapes over the knees: the feet had red armor just before the fingers started, which had been turned into a set of three claws which looked sharp.

Lastly, the Navi also had a green tail with two golden shapes built near the end of it protruding from his back.

"G – Beast." Gufuu announced.

"G – Beast?" Everyone asked.

"And, next…"

The red column vanished to reveal another "beastly" Net Navi whose design seemed to be based on Delta given the slightly different facial shape and size.

"F – Beast."

The "F – Beast" had a helmet with a golden edge and a red shape aiming backwards and upwards protruding from it: a greenish jewel in the form of a bird was set on the forehead as well.

The face was partly hidden by the mouth-guard yet the eyes also displayed this feral-like level of instinct.

The upper part of the chest armor had a brownish/grayish color plus a red stripe just underneath the blackened chest emblem: it looked like a bird's torso, even.

The forearms had red armor with a grayish/brownish edge around the wrists plus a small triangle-like piece neart the start of it: the hands had become finger-claws colored white.

The boots had a greenish/azure diamond set over the knees and a general conical shape with three large metallic claws instead of the usual feet fingers.

Two sets of wings of four each one colored red with an azure edge emerged from the back of the body and seemingly allowed for the Navi to fly.

"By all the…!" General Sentou gasped.

"I picked Rock Man and Delta's backup data and then inserted a piece of each "Cybeast" into them: these are the results. They are yours to command. They will follow any command and their claws can do away with any armor. I desire chaos. And you can provide it." Gufuu gallantly announced.

"So this is… the power of the "Cybeasts"…! Saiba City's sleeping legends, the "Cybeasts"…! Mwa, hah, hah, hah!" General Sentou laughed in a victorious tone of voice.

"And now, if you shall excuse me, I have to go visit a gentleman who has booked a session of Tabuu's Humor Show."

Gufuu giggled and vanished while General Sentou rubbed his hands and excitement and the other three also grinned…

12:45 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Attention: they're going to dynamite this place. Please evacuate in a calm and orderly manner."

"No way!"

"I'm off!"

"A~h!"

"Run for it!"

"Wait!"

"What the hell is going on?"

Enzan had been picking off a bottle of water from the vending machine in the Metro Line station of Akihara City when the P.A. system had engaged and a soft-tuned male voice had made the announcement.

"Tabuu!" Blues realized.

"What the…! He's gonna blow this place up with dynamite? He's a bit old-fashioned, ain't he?" Enzan looked surprised.

He spotted two technicians coming in and bringing a heavy piece of machinery.

"Hmmm! This _dynamo_ sure is heavy!"

"We're almost there!"

"Dynamo…? Dynamite…? By all the…! It was a pun!" Enzan suddenly realized.

"I dunno where he got the idea from." Blues frowned.

"I'd rather say that you should blame _Don_ Francisco Ibañez for it, I'm afraid, Ijuuin Jr." Tabuu's voice rang out through the P.A. system.

"He must be in the P.A. center! Let's go! There's not a second to waste if we wanna catch up to the guy before he runs off!" Enzan rallied as he formed a scowl on his face.

He quickly climbed to the room overlooking the train tracks and found one console being used given how it was beeping,

"Plug In! Blues, Transmission!"

Blues entered the system and found the omnipresent Gufuu avatar which was focusing on the control system.

"I can make prophecies, too! "I prophesize, that, since you are named Ijjuin, you will lose your _life_ in a silly accident"… How's that?" Tabuu laughed after making a "prophecy".

"It sucks." Blues dully told him.

"Huh? Hey! You were supposed to stay in the lobby!" Tabuu sounded annoyed, for once.

"I'm not an actor." Blues shot back.

"Nope: you're Aragorn reincarnated." Tabuu now sounded amused and he formed a smug smile.

"Drop it." Blues told him.

"I'm gonna drop a glass of water over someone's face one day: I always say that, you know." Tabuu announced.

"I don't see the point of it." Blues countered.

"That's because I don't add points to my sentences: I never passed the Orthography exam." Tabuu kept on sounding amused.

"That's very funny." Enzan dully told him.

"You're starting to sound like Chief Lezareno. You should've seen him in action: he's a very good athlete. And when it comes to fights, then there's no beating him." Tabuu told Enzan.

"Yeah. I'm not gonna come out of here for you to arrange an accident and have me killed." Enzan told him.

"Why. You don't have Deathy La Morgue latest hit book? It's titled "Life", Ijuuin Jr." Tabuu sounded amused.

"… So! The point of your so-called prophecy is that I will lose a book named "life", then!" Enzan realized.

"That was lame."

"Email _Don_ Francisco Ibañez." Tabuu suggested.

"What else do you hide behind that avatar besides your ugly hide?" Blues questioned.

"This: "Besuvius is gonna erupt"..." Tabuu announced.

"Isn't that the volcano in Italy?" Blues frowned.

"It may be." Tabuu replied.

"… You're not gonna tell me it's another book." Enzan looked like he could see where this was heading at.

"Nope. I mean agent Besuvius: every time he eats turnips, his face is filled with grains and it's called an eruption, too." Tabuu laughed.

"Lemme guess: you have more of them in store." Blues guessed.

"Yeah! Ahem, ahem… "I prophesize that Commissioner Kifune will attack Ms. Manabe with Visigoth anger..." … How's that one like?" Tabuu announced.

"It's not a book this time. But I don't see the point, either. And that ain't gonna happen." Enzan told him.

"Bravo. It's because I should've said "Ophelia" instead. He's going to attack Brahms' "Ophelia" violin composition instead." Tabuu revealed.

"I can't believe someone actually believes those." Blues sounded utterly skeptical.

"Check it out in _Prophet Jeremy_." Tabuu announced.

"Maybe we will." Enzan told him.

"Meijin - san is gonna "load" the Science Labs." Tabuu told them.

"Yeah. And where's the pun on it?" Enzan demanded.

"In Spanish, "cargar" can be translated as "load" or "destroy". And since Dr. Bacterio was going to "cargar" his "tia", they thought he was gonna "destroy" the "TIA" agency instead of his "loading" his "aunt"… Funny, huh?" Tabuu let out.

"Yeah. Very funny indeed." Blues drily told him.

"A guy with a moustache is going to send Ms. Manabe to the grave."

"I don't believe it." Enzan told him.

"Of course you don't: he's gonna send her to visit his distant relative's grave, adjacent to her great grandmother's grave and deposit a plastic flower there." Tabuu explained.

"This Ibañez man has some weird humor." Blues admitted.

"But he's been a best-seller for fifty years in Spain, so I'd say his humor in unrivaled!" Tabuu let out.

"Do you have something else in store?" Enzan demanded.

"I do: a great lady comes closer. There's gonna be man-slaugther and all of you will fall one after the other." Tabuu declared.

"… A building will collapse, you mean to say?" Blues tried to guess.

"Indeed! The TIA HQ ended up ruined after all, so the prophet was fired and given as meal to a shark." Tabuu announced.

"What was the point of it?" Enzan demanded.

"_Escabechina _meant to say a kind of _escabeche_ meal or, alternatively, man-slaughter. The problem was that Ms. Ofelia soaked Dr. Bacterio's new vinegar-triggered explosive substance, thus why there was an _escabechina_ 'cause they all almost died there." Tabuu explained.

"That was lame. It's no wonder they fed that lame prophet to the sharks, then." Enzan calmly assumed.

"I think someone else recalls my attention, so I'll be going. Bye."

Enzan cursed under his breath and Blues formed a scowl…

00:11 AM (Washington Time)…

"… Gra~h!"

"DIE, DIE, DIE~!"

"Uo~h!"

"_My God! My God! My God!_"

"We're gonna be deleted, we're gonna be deleted!"

A platoon of Elite-Class Security Net Navis was trying to fend off the "G – Beast" and "F – Beast" without too much success: their armors were torn apart by the beasts and they then moved on as they agonized.

"Don't worry! We'll put you out of your misery… Hah!"

"Scout Knife!"

"Deal with those. I'll catch up to the vanguard."

Moonlight and Sunlight used their scout knives to finish off the Navis while Kratins Boo ran on ahead and caught up with the beasts as they broke through a firewall and got inside of another server.

"Outside!" He ordered.

Both beasts obeyed and ran off to handle a new incoming platoon: Kratins Boo quickly uploaded something into the system and rapidly inputted commands.

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's hack this and make it create a ghostly duplicate in an anonymous server somewhere which we can then sell. Our funds are rising and soon we will be able to claim back our land! Not even the Pentagon – produced troops stopped us from reaching another of their secondary servers! Heh, heh, heh! Good! Transfer in progress… Let's collapse this entrance so that we have time to finish it all. Tactical withdrawal!" He muttered.

He laughed as he tossed grenades to collapse the entrance and fled with the two agents and beasts…


	7. Chapter 7: Origins

**Chapter 7: Origins**

17:49 PM (Japan Time), Thursday November the 16th…

"… We're home!"

"Welcome!"

Netto and Saito, sporting their middle school uniforms, got into their home after the day's classes: they picked their slippers and climbed into the bedroom.

"What a week! Even though we know where Tabuu is hidden at the Warp Point doesn't work anymore. And that area is now plagued with wild Generation I Pokémon, too, so navigating it is difficult. Last month he ripped off serious video game guys, now he rips Pokémons. And he gave the Z – Militia those two aberrations, too!" Netto complained.

"I know. But that was no reason to ditch our studies. And tomorrow we leave for the _onsen_, too." Saito sighed.

"Argh. It's at times like this that reading my _tankobon_ collection of _Pokémon Special_ makes me feel better."

"I'll be checking my mail…"

Netto got into a face-up position atop his bed and began to read the _tankobon_ while Saito booted the PC and accessed his inbox: he suddenly frowned as he spotted something.

"… Hmmm… Huh? This is…? "Morgoroth demonking com"… "Demon King"… _Maou_? It has an attached JPEG file…"

Saito downloaded the file and opened it: his jaw hit the floor.

"Netto – kun! You MUST see this!" He gasped.

"What's wrong? Huh! E~h! T-that's…!" Netto frowned as he walked towards Saito's side and then was stunned.

The photo showed two persons standing side by side in front of a large metallic building's entrance.

The person on the right was Vadous, who wore body armor made of an unknown grayish compound material: some purple patterns were drawn around it.

He sported a ragged, torn and worn out purple cape attached to the back of his shoulders which spread all the way to the ground but had some centimeters' margin of space.

He lastly carried two elaborated sword sheaths attached to the thick central belt colored black running around his waist.

His face in the photo showed him looking calm and collected.

"That's Vadous – san. But the guy on the left…!" Saito signaled.

"W-whoa!"

The guy on the left was a totally different tale.

To begin with, the guy had a humanoid shape and seemed to be around two meters tall.

Black armor made of an unknown material covered the whole of his body thus protecting him.

The helmet around his head lacked nose or mouth yet it had two cavities for the eyes which were plain red and lacking iris: but they seemed to be a decoration more than his real eyes, too.

His shoulders were plain and didn't have a spheroid form unlike most Net Navis: he had elbows and the armor over the hands included two small dome-shaped objects with the Alphabet "T" character colored in rainbow colors drawn upon them.

The armor extended across his legs, being thicker around the knees and ended in ellipsoid segments protecting his feet: rainbow-colored lines travelled down their length.

The main body was absent of decoration save for a pattern drawing the same Alphabet "T" letter in the middle of the chest the colors of which were (apparently) constantly shifting and mixing.

Lastly, four large and irregularly-shaped wings formed behind him: its colors were also constantly shifting, too.

"T-that's gotta be… Tabuu! Omega – san did mention that he had some kind of armor!" Saito grasped.

"Whoa! Tabuu's real look… Scary~!" Netto muttered.

The date "04/08/2005" was imprinted on the lower right edge of the photograph along with the words "TRAINING FACILITY".

"This photo is dated over six years ago… We were eight. You were at the Science Labs with Papa and I was in 3rd of elementary school. And Vadous – san had to have been eighteen and "been around" for roughly two years. The building must be that Bermuda Triangle facility he spoke of." Netto deduced next.

"Surprised?" Tabuu's voice rang out from Saito's Link PET.

Both gasped and looked at it: his Gufuu avatar was there, as usual.

"So that's your ugly hide, huh?" Netto told him.

"Indeed! If you were wondering where I got the alias "Morgoroth" from, it's J.R.R. Tolkien's _Silmarillion_ book: he was Sauron's boss before he was fired and Sauron began to handle on his own." Tabuu announced.

"I'd read about it." Saito admitted.

"Bravo." Tabuu sounded satisfied.

"What are ya up to?" Netto demanded.

"I'm brainstorming." Tabuu simply replied.

"No wonder." Saito sarcastically told him.

"By the way! Have you guys wondered _where_ I came out from?" Tabuu sounded amused.

"Yeah. You were a solo Navi who was formed on his own somehow, not unlike the "Cybeast Greiga" was formed on its own by the mass fusion of bugs." Netto replied.

"… My. _Aibou_ does get afraid easily, it'd seem." Tabuu laughed.

"Come on. A man like him ain't gonna get afraid of creeps like you." Saito didn't believe it.

"Why do you guys think he bothered to build such a gigantic spacecraft to begin with? He told you about it, right?" Tabuu asked.

"Now that he says it… I always thought it was to be the ultimate HQ or something like that…" Netto frowned.

"You don't mean that…!" Saito seemed to see where Tabuu was pointing at with his question.

"Yep! Did you guys really think he'd made it sit idle in High Earth Orbit and do _nothing_? Vadous was not the patient type back then! He actually traversed the whole Solar System with it! And that's where we met: in the Kuiper belt!" Tabuu announced.

"… But if you're an alien then how did you learn Japanese and other idioms so easily?" Saito questioned.

"I am an alien. But I'm a Navi. A Navi can use binary code to adapt something to its systems. And that's what we did. When I got a decent enough level of idiom, we began to talk directly, but until then we had to use binary conversion and de-conversion to get to an understanding. It was troublesome, but…" Tabuu explained.

"Hmmm… So! Vadous – san was afraid of being laughed at if he told us this stuff?" Netto assumed.

"Yeah. That sums it up nicely enough, fellas." Tabuu confirmed with a hint of amusement.

"If you're done with the show then scram outta here before we summon Omega and he comes reap your armor, wings and skin!" Saito demanded.

"Yep. I'm done with the show. I'm off to brainstorming. Enjoy your _onsen_ trip!"

"What?"

The hologram bowed and warped out: both grumbled in clear annoyance and glanced at the photo once more.

"He's been spying on us or Enzan. Else how could he know about our _onsen_ trip?" Netto grumbled.

"He's a lousy spy." Saito grumbled.

"YAY! GUFUU – SAMA WAS JUST HERE! YAY!" A Program – kun inside of their PC exclaimed.

"That wasn't Gufuu, so get back to work." Netto told the Program – kun with a hint of annoyance on his voice.

"YAY!"

Netto's Link PET rang and Dekao showed up onscreen with a broad grin on his face: Netto looked skeptical.

"Dekao. Whaddya want?"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah! I bought an "Ultra Cannon" to a guy named Bubble Man! And by using it I plan to beat ya and Rock Man once and for all!" He laughed.

"Anything made by Bubble Man is a scam. You got your money robbed, Dekao." Netto grumbled.

"Fire!" He commanded to Guts Man.

"Fire, gattsu!"

An explosion sound rang out and a loud THUD of Guts Man hitting the floor rang out over the line.

"Wha! It blew up and Guts Mans' HP fell down to 1 HP!"

"See?" Netto sighed in exasperation.

"This guy~! Bubble Ma~n! I'll slaughter ya~!"

Netto cut the call and glanced at Saito who also slapped his forehead in obvious exasperation and defeat…

18:11 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh! De masu! My Chip Store is going perfectly, de masu! My Chips shine like gold, de masu!"

"Higure - san…"

Higure Yamitarou was rubbing his hands in excitement upon seeing how his business was going like before his Link PET rang.

"This is Higureya, de masu! Wanna order a Rare Chip, de masu?" Higure greeted with a broad smile.

"May I recall the attention of Higure Yamitarou to the fact that he forgot to order a stock of Dream Aura Battle Chips?" Tabuu's voice rang out with obvious amusement.

"A~h! De masu! I knew I was missing something, de masu! Dream Aura, de masu!"

Higure turned to the shelf behind him and spotted a box with three Dream Aura Battle Chips on it.

"Huh? I do have Dream Auras, de masu!"

"May I recall the attention of Number Man EXE to the fact that he forgot to teach his Operator what does the 1:4:9 proportions imply?" Tabuu announced next.

"What! Higure - san doesn't know such a basic thing?" Number Man sounded taken aback.

"Aren't those the square powers of the three first natural numbers, de masu?" Higure frowned.

"Hey! How did you…? He's gone! What a chicken!" Number Man began questioning to then see that the guy was gone.

"Who could've it been, de masu?" Higure wondered.

"Do not ask me, sir." Number Man replied.

Higure frowned and brought the right hand to his chin…

18:22 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Phew! This program was hard to debug: but it was quite a challenge. Vadous – san sure can make interesting programs!"

"He can."

"Yikes!"

"Surprised? Obihiro Shun."

Obihiro Shun (sporting his usual purple jumper along with blackish jeans plus white sneakers) had been sitting in a chair and working with a MacBook placed atop a desk when Gufuu's avatar showed up onscreen as walking in from the right once he'd stopped to wonder aloud and lean the chair backwards a bit.

"You're that Tabuu dude!" He assumed.

"Indeed! May I recall your attention to the fact that you forgot your YouTube account password?" Tabuu announced.

"Huh! My YouTube account password…! Where did I write it down, man…? Huh? Wasn't it Obihiro11? Hey! He's gone!" Obihiro began to look around his room in a frenzy only to remember it and realize Tabuu had ditched him while he was busy.

Sighing in relief, he resumed his earlier position and stretched before he noticed there was JPEG file set on the task bar.

"Huh? I didn't open it. What's this about?" He frowned.

He opened it and saw the famous photo so his jaw hit the floor.

"This is turning crazier with every passing day…" He muttered while sounding taken aback.

"Crazy in my life and life in my crazy~…" A silly song rang out all of a sudden and it seemed to be self-made.

"What in the… It's so lame. Really." He groaned.

"Lovely in my love and love in my lovely~… Drum, drum, drum…"

18:23 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmmm! This curry is right on the point. Let us prepare to serve the first dinners."

"Roger, Maha Jarama – sama."

Maha Jarama, former WWW member, was cooking something in a restaurant's kitchen: Hino Kenichi, Iroaya Madoi and Count Elec were also present nearby yet the only customers were two Net Police detectives who seemed to be watching them: Magic Man, his Net Navi, was apparently checking the procedure.

"Alright. The dish-washing machine has finished so I better start storing the stuff." Hinoken muttered as he checked it.

"Roger, Hinoken – sama."

"The rice is ready." Madoi called out.

"Tee, heh, heh. Ricy rice~!" Colored Man rhymed.

"The glasses are _clean_, _yes_!" Count Elec reported.

"I have a bad feeling." Elec Man muttered.

"Maha Jarama – sama: a phone call."

"This is Maha Ichiban's." He announced.

"May I recall the attention of Maha Jarama to the fact that he forgot to order the spices for the curry?" Tabuu announced.

"By all the…!" Maha gasped.

He checked the cupboard and found it filled with spices so he looked surprised.

"May I recall the attention of Magic Man EXE to the fact that he forgot to order the rabbits for tonight's suppers?" Tabuu told Magic Man next.

"Rabbits…? Where did I stow them at? Wait! We don't serve rabbits! Who…? He's gone!" Magic Man gasped.

"Madoi~! The PET, the PET!"

"Yeah, yeah. Who goes there?" She asked.

"May I recall the attention of Ms. Iroaya Madoi to the fact that she forgot to put on her Lady GaGa perfume?" Tabuu teased.

"Goodness!"

Madoi ran off towards the restroom and tossing the Link PET on the table: Colored Man looked confused.

"May I recall the attention of Colored Man EXE to the fact that he forgot to paint the restaurant's Cyber World in pink color?" Tabuu teased Colored Man next.

"A~H! I knew I was forgettin' somethin'…! Wait! Who'd want to paint it pink? Huh? He fled!" Colored Man shrieked only to realize that he had been fooled.

"I don't have a Lady GaGa perfume, either!" Madoi came back in while looking pissed off.

"Count Elec. The phone, sir."

"_By George_! _Who_ _are you_?" He questioned.

"May I recall the attention of Count Elec to the fact that he forgot to eat his daily C Vitamin orange juice?" Tabuu told him.

"_My God!_ Quick! Maha Jarama! I need an orange juice!" Count Elec gasped and shouted at Maha Jarama.

"… Ever since when do you consume orange juice, Count Elec?" Maha asked.

"Huh? Never, now that I think about it!" Count Elec realized.

"May I recall the attention of Elec Man EXE to the fact that he forgot to electrocute that customer who tried to leave without paying the bill last evening?" Tabuu asked.

"No way…" He groaned.

"Hinoken – sama. The phone…"

"Alright! Whaddya want?" He questioned.

"May I recall the attention of Hino Kenichi to the fact that he forgot to ask Ms. Iroaya Madoi to go out in a date?" Tabuu teased.

"WHAT!" Hinoken sounded taken aback.

"… That ain't gonna happen. Ever." Madoi announced.

"May I recall the attention of Fire Man EXE to the fact that he forgot to burn that old man's beard?" Tabuu teased next.

"What old man's beard…? He ditched me!" Fire Man began wondering before realizing that he'd been tricked.

"Oi. Kondo. Did you order a straw hat for me?" One Net Police detective asked the other as he looked at a Sub PET.

"No, Jendo. Did you order platform shoes for me?"

"I didn't."

"Then who sent me this email?"

"That'd be me. Sorcerer Gufuu."

"SORCERER? RUN FOR IT!"

The two detectives ran off like they were gonna be slaughtered alive just as Gufuu projected in the real world and greeted the other four with a reverence before looking up while having a psychotic smile on his face which gave on the creeps.

"Boo."

"UWA~H!"

The four of them also ran out and no – one was left behind.

"… _And then there were none_, by Agatha Christie."

Gufuu giggled aloud in the empty restaurant…

18:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Speak."

"I won't!"

BLOF!

"Ugah!"

"No "cool guy" tricks on me or I'll bring out my terrific arsenal of tools to force you to confess."

"W-why, you…!"

Hikawa cursed as he tried to struggle against the ropes keeping him tied to a chair inside of his bedroom: he'd been stripped down to his boxers and he had a black wool blindfold over his eyes: Moonlight was standing in front of him and punching his stomach area: she carried a backpack colored black on her and didn't look in a good mood.

"Where did Akashi come from? We know Delta was the result of a last-ditch-plan by Dr. Regal and so is Red Sword, but there's insufficient data on Akashi." Moonlight questioned.

"Damn it! Fine! Ameroupe!"

"Ameroupe?"

"I know his English is not very good but that's because he lived in a Japanese neighborhood similar to Chinatown…! And he was picked off by a secret Army program to train elite Net Battlers and make them become "fifth column" agents to help them cripple rival Networks and gain supremacy!" Hikawa told Moonlight.

"Ah! I'd heard rumors of that and General Sentou got inspired on the idea to try to pick Rock Man and Delta from that, yeah. So that solves much of the equation, yet how did he and Delta meet?"

"Hiro – kun was given a field mission in Japan but he ditched the guys and ran up a mountain only to fell inside of a bunker's camouflaged air duct which happened to be inhabited by Delta."

"And how do you treat him like a friend when he was the one who rescued Dr. Regal and began "Neo Nebula", huh?"

"Well! After some incidents which he and Delta provoked because they were being led by a puppeteer… Zataki – san blocked their memories and gave them a chance to start anew! He thought Dr. Regal might know something and he was still in the mood to play "bad guy" until he partially revived one memory and that shook his beliefs. That's when he began to think that maybe he'd gotten himself in a pinch!"

"And…?"

"And Dr. Regal began to catch wind of it and began to extortion him: he claimed that he could find his lost parents somehow and Hiro – kun was forced to tag along only to be betrayed by Dr. Regal! He almost died when the man closed him inside of a dusty van because he couldn't breathe properly with cello on his mouth! We had to rescue him and with some joint effort we took control of the plane before he could try to bring us to the Z – Nation! He was a victim! Of course we'd take him in as a friend: he'd tried to end it but was unable to! And he was ready to be punished for his crimes but Commissioner Kifune appointed him a "Net Savior" instead!" Hikawa explained in a rush.

"Ah! So Dr. Regal resorted to extortion because he saw value on him and that's why and you guys so that's why he tried to bring the plane to our Z – Nation yet he failed and ended up jailed… And they can't remember what they did before, either, and you guys must've buried it by now… Man! I was expecting more struggling… Take this!"

BLOF!

"Gah!"

Hikawa felt another blow to his stomach and began to notice an acid feeling on his throat.

"S-stop it…! I'm gonna throw out my lunch like this…!" Hikawa pleaded between pants.

"Then let's bring out the taser!"

ZAP!

"Grah!"

Hikawa felt a small electrical discharge hit the right side of his neck and he yelled.

"This is a modified taser with lowered power: it'll make sure to make you yell." Moonlight announced.

"L-leave me alone, you villain…!" Hikawa cursed.

"Nope. I'm just getting started." Moonlight replied.

ZAP!

"Grah!"

"Yell."

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

"Gra~h!"

Three continuous electric jolts hit the right side of his neck, and he yelled in agony but he suddenly noticed something else: his cock turned hard and was bulging against his boxers.

"My, my, my. It looks like you're a good masochist if you get turned on by my taser. Let's allow it to breathe a bit." Moonlight sounded eager.

"D-don't invade my privacy!" Hikawa protested.

"That's it: struggle. It'll make you hornier. And I've nailed the chair to the floor, so there's no escape." Moonlight announced.

Hikawa felt two hands pulling his boxers down his legs and stopping right before the knees: his cock was wholly exposed by now and it was totally hard.

"Hmpf. I know that Sakurai girl has been giving you lessons but mine are better. I'm sure she'd liked to make you beg and moan. I'll teach you to be a good slave!"

Hikawa was about to protest, but Moonlight placed something on his mouth to muffle him which felt like a small plastic spheroid with holes with a leather band to hold it on place.

"No speaking. Now these."

He then felt two things being attached to his nipples and his sack.

"And this, too."

A cylindrical object was forced into his insides.

"And let's add this. Tee, heh, heh."

Hikawa noticed how a small cylindrical object was forced into his urethra and some leather bands were tightened around his cock and sack.

"All's set. Let's begin!"

The object on his insides began to vibrate: Hikawa felt how his cock was bulging and he couldn't come to thus placing a brutal strain on his mind: his cries were muffled by the spheroid and his body was moving around in a crazy manner.

_N-no…! I know Sakurai – san forced me to hold back when she toyed with me but she didn't go to the ends of plugging the urethra…! Let me release…! I'm gonna go crazy! I'm gonna go crazy!_

"Keep on struggling! I want you to beg and moan!"

"Charge… Shot!"

BLAM!

"Gua~h…! Delta…! Impossible…!"

"Take this! This! And this!"

"Uack! Grah! Damn! I'll be back!"

"Tooru – kun! I'll take this out!"

Hikawa felt how Delta removed the plug and he inwardly cried as he released and stained his body before losing consciousness…

19:33 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Tooru – kun! Please! Wake up!"

"Oi! Tooru!"

"Uh-unh… Hiro – kun… Drake… kun…!"

Hikawa managed to wake up: his sight was blurry but he could tell that he was on his bed wearing his boxers and his pajamas: Hiro and Drake were looming over him.

"Are ya alright? Say something!"

"Ugh… Don't wanna… go through that… twice…!" He groaned.

"No – one would!" Drake muttered.

"Eh… Can I make a request…?"

"Sure!"

"Could we… eh… hum… go to the _onsen_, too?"

"You wanna… eh… play with us?" Hiro looked surprised.

"Sorry. But… Something about you… drives me crazy." He blushed and looked at the ceiling.

"Well, no big deal for me! Whaddya say, Drake~?"

"No problem. We could make out the three of us together and make Ice Man go explore something. He wouldn't get it." Drake shrugged and formed a smile.

"Yeah. I was thinking of the same thing, too…"

"Alright! Then it's gonna become the Mega _Onsen_ Trip! Brace yourself, _onsen_! I'm gonna dive right in and heat up!" Hiro grinned.

"And I'll put my _onsen_ knowledge into practical use…"

"Deal!"

The three of them laughed in a jovial tone of voice…


	8. Chapter 8: Weekend

**Chapter 8: Weekend**

08:09 AM (Japan Time), Saturday November the 18th…

"… Who~a! This looks so cool!"

"Sure thing!"

"Heh. There's nothing like a good _onsen_ bath in November!"

Netto, Saito and Enzan were overseeing the totally empty men's _onsen_ indoors pool with the steam from the hot water clearly visible: the three of them were just wearing the mandatory towel around the waist and overseeing it.

"Oi~! Did you know that his _onsen_ dates back from the 17th century, guys?" A voice rang out.

"Mr. Onsenpedia is 'ere." A second voice rang out.

"I don't see the point of the nickname, really." A third voice added.

The three of them turned around to see Hikawa, Hiro and Drake coming in with all of them looking ready for a bath, too.

"Guys! You came, too?" Netto was surprised.

"We weren't expecting to bump into you three, truth to be told! This'll make it funnier." Hiro grinned.

"Yup. We can all have fun."

"I knew you'd say that, Saito - kun."

"So, Hikawa over there is the Onsenpedia?" Enzan sounded amused and had a smug smile on his face.

"Yep! I've got my _Practical Guide for Japanse Onsens_ inhere." Hikawa announced while holding a thick book out.

"We decided to come to help him shake off what happened the other day." Hiro whispered to Netto and the others while Drake began to ask Hikawa questions.

"Well. As long as you don't try to meedle into my stuff then I see no trouble…" Enzan shrugged.

"When did you become such a passionate of _onsens_, Enzan - kun?"

"… Truth to be told… The first time I came to one was two years ago, a while before the Dream Virus Incident. I needed something to help the IPC employees organize a party for one of them who was going to marry soon, so Blues suggested picking this place given its humbleness and easy accessibility. That's when I became coming here at least twice a year. And I liked its discrete location, too." He drily explained.

"Interesting. Speaking of Blues… Is he checking around for you-know-who?"

"Yeah. I told him to come and report in twenty minutes' time."

"… Now that the prologue is down with… _Onsen_ time!" Netto rallied by raising his right arm.

"YEAH!"

All of them ran towards the _onsen_ and tossed out the towels as they plunged inside and soon emerged: they then leaned their backs on the natural stones around the rim while keeping their lower waists and legs submerged.

"Do ya think that the December exams are gonna be as hard as they were last year?" Hiro asked Netto.

"I wouldn't doubt it: 2rd of middle school ain't gonna be a walk into the park." Netto rolled his eyes.

"So, Enzan - kun? Is there anything fishy going on around IPC's basement parking?"

"The basement parking…? What are you hinting at?" He frowned.

"Dunno." Hikawa grinned.

"Heh, heh, heh… Tooru – kun just came up with an intriguing question indeed."

"He's going to ask the Bluespedia to solve it."

"Someone called me?" Blues asked.

"Did you find Gufuu?" Enzan questioned.

"… Negative. I checked all Link PETs and subsystems on an 800 meters radius: I also used x-ray and IR. There's no trace of the creepy sorcerer anywhere." Blues reported.

"… Ah… There's really nothing like a good _onsen_ bath to relax. I can even pretend nothing's happened for the last few days…" Netto sounded like he was daydreaming.

Saito grinned and silently submerged himself: Netto was suddenly pulled beneath the water and Saito emerged from it followed by Netto, who spat the water which had gotten on his mouth.

"Grftjx! Saito – niisan! I didn't like that one!" Netto grumbled.

"I'm the Deep – Sea- Monster, in case you'd forgotten, Netto – kun." Saito replied with a grin.

Everyone laughed at the scene and Netto turned red, lowering most of his head into the water and leaving the nose and above out of it.

"So, Enzan! What's your style?" Hiro asked.

"Guess soft."

"Soft? Well, yeah. That's me too but I add a spicy touch to it. Ain't that right, Drake~?"

"Yeah, yeah. As long as it doesn't go past that."

"I'm good at doing it with the foot." Saito grinned.

"Oh… Interesting." Hiro grinned.

"Really interesting." Hikawa admitted.

Netto turned even redder and the group laughed.

"This is just the beginning, guys!"

20:14 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Man. You're narrow."

"Heh. Guess so!"

"But your nipples are round: it feels funny to play with them."

"Of course! I'm a cool guy!"

"You didn't seem to mind the others looking at the bullet wounds or the scars, though."

"That was long ago. I've overcome that phase."

"So you're turning serious."

"At least I'm not the "I – can – do – it – all – alone" type of jerk."

"Hmpf."

Netto and Enzan were making out in their room while being atop Enzan's _futon_: Enzan was sitting with his legs spread open and closing his arms around Netto's waist as he pumped in and out of his insides: Netto merely chatted with him as he looked over the right shoulder with a grin.

"But we had fun! We bathed, explored the village, played a rental _Mario Kart Wii_ game and now we're making out. Heh! I wonder if Blues' stuff is bigger than yours. Saito – niisan has gotta be seeing the white world by now, I daresay." Netto grinned.

He glanced at the rightmost _futon_ where Saito, dressed in the _yukata_ and apparently sleeping while clutching Enzan's Link PET on his right hand: the centermost _futon_ was empty and the leftmost one was Enzan's where they were making out.

"Huh. Guess I'm gonna come. Get ready."

"Come!"

Enzan calmly closed his eyes and slowly breathed out as he released inside of Netto: he then stretched backwards and used the hands to lean his body.

"Well. Not bad."

"Do you want a blowjob, too?" Netto asked.

"If you insist…" He shrugged.

"Heh. I'm good at those."

Netto detached from Enzan and then got into position: he closed his right hand around the base of Enzan's cock and began to tease the sack before starting to lick the head: Enzan merely lifted his eyebrows and didn't seem to make it clear that he was starting to get in the mood: he placed his right hand behind Netto's head and began to set a pace.

"We'll go by my pace." He merely told him.

Netto merely nodded and let Enzan set the pace: Enzan began to form a smile as the pace increased: he was obviously getting further in the mood and he kept on increasing the pace before Netto took it deep into his throat as he released and overfilled his mouth: Netto took it out of his mouth and grinned as he showed him the white stuff inside of his mouth: Enzan merely shrugged.

"Alright. But don't think it's personal." He warned.

He moved in and began to share a kiss with Netto: they mixed the liquid and then separated to reveal the string connecting them: Enzan signaled his own nipples.

"Make me feel good here, too."

Netto began to slowly rub and tease Enzan's nipples before starting to lick them: Enzan merely tapped the ground with his right hand's index and middle fingers while Netto glanced at how Enzan's cock was turning hard again so he kept the same pace.

"Speed up." Enzan told him.

"Heh, heh, heh. I knew ya would say that."

Netto continued on slowly rubbing and licking the nipples while Enzan hummed a tune…

20:21 PM (Japan Time)…

"Ah… Ah…! Drake – kun…! Hiro – kun…!"

"Getting overwhelmed, Tooru? I'll admit that this my first time doing this thing. I hope it doesn't hurt."

"Don't be afraid, Tooru – kun. We'll be gentle."

Drake, Hiro and Hikawa were making out as well: Hiro was holding Hikawa from behind by grabbing him by below the shoulders and stuffing his cock into Hikawa's insides while Drake was holding Hikawa's legs above his own shoulders and also stuffing his cock into Hikawa's insides, making him have two of them.

"Here. Like this setup?"

Hiro closed Hikawa's right hand around his cock and made him begin to automatically rub it.

"It d-doesn't hurt… But… it feels… incredible…" Hikawa admitted between low-toned moans and pants.

"Heh, heh. Then we're gonna make it feel even more incredible." Hiro announced.

"Hiro – kun… Don't take it too far." Drake scolded.

Hiro didn't reply and began to play with Hikawa's nipples and to lick the edges of his ears or his neck: Hikawa clenched his teeth to keep his voice down and felt how he was about to release.

"I'm going off!" He warned.

He did go off and he stained his own upper torso and face so his inner muscles tightened around both cocks and made both Drake and Hiro go off at the same time thus overfilling their friend's insides

"Heh, heh, heh! This _is_ fun." Hiro chuckled.

"Yeah. Let's do another round!"

They began anew and Hikawa moaned from the pleasure…

20:45 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Man. I miss busting a lot of Viruses."

"Then bust my new pawn."

"Huh? Ah! C-cha…!"

"Sorcerer Gufuu. At your service."

"Heh! Then I'll bust a sorcerer."

"Correction. You'll bust this guy."

Rafael had been walking down a street in Saiba City when he met with Gufuu face-to-face: he grinned and cocked his guns yet Gufuu merely made a reverence.

"Heh, heh, heh. Plant Man has arrived."

"Plant Man?"

Plant Man showed: he was crossing his arms and he had a smug file on his face.

"Plant Man: no deletion." Tabuu ordered.

"It shall be done by thou will, Tabuu – sama."

"I will be watching." Tabuu warned.

"Roger."

Gufuu warped away and Rafael aimed both guns at Plant Man who looked amused and psychotic at the same time.

"… I'm gonna beat you up, gramps." Rafael told him with a grin.

"I am afraid that adjective is being used out of its proper context." Plant Man gallantly announced.

"My buddies say it all: hi and bye." Rafael replied.

He jumped into the air and placed both guns in horizontal positions before he began to shoot several quick shots at the vines to delete them.

"Too easy, too easy~!"

He then focused on Plant Man's knees, thus damaging his overall mobility: he then charged up his guns and shot two shots at Plant Man's wrists thus damaging them.

"Rose Needle!"

He shot several needles at Rafael: he easily picked each and all of them off with precise shots and quickly used two jets on the soil of his boots to float above Plant Man and hit his heels and the back of his shoulders.

"Your boss said no deletion! So I'm just reducing your combat capabilities." Rafael announced.

Plant Man looked annoyed again, but he spotted Gufuu looking towards them so he assumed his smug smile again.

"Leaf Shield!"

Several leafs popped out and formed a barrier around Plant Man's body and he formed a lust-filled face yet he quickly dropped it.

_I don't know if Master can see through the Leaf Shield… Let's be careful or else…!_

"Heh! No big deal, dude! Noa – kun! Give me a Fire-Elemental Battle Chip, please!" Rafael called out.

"O.K.! Battle Chip, Flame Sword! Slot In!"

Rafael cut through the Leaf Shield and Plant Man stepped back, hissing something under his breath.

"That's enough." Gufuu ordered.

"Wha~t… Gramps! I was just getting excited!" Rafael sounded annoyed at Gufuu's pull back move.

"Then go to the cinema and have a look at _Crazy Man's Adventures Volume 2._" Gufuu invited as Plant Man warped out.

"HUH? That's so silly~!" He protested.

"Tell that to Mr. Silly."

"This guy…!" A twich showed up over his right eye and he looked about to get really annoyed.

"And Blackbeard was buried time ago, too. The age of the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ is long past, so… Get in line."

Gufuu giggled and vanished as well while Rafael groaned.

"I'll get ya for this!"

"Beware! Your number one non-fan!"

"HUH?"

"Hyururu~! Oi! Ya are Rafael, right? Where are the Alps pro skiing lane tickets, man?"

"Huh? I dunno what you're talking about… Ya are Blizzard Man from the Hunters' Guild, right?"

"Yeah, but…"

Blizzard Man suddenly rushed in and asked a question that made Rafael frown: Blizzard Man seemed to be surprised, too.

"Thundering storms! Where is the berserk Heel Navi?"

"By my might! Where is the 100-man invading force?"

"Huff, huff… I'm going to put a halt to that drug ring!"

The other members gathered there in a rush and they looked surprised on meeting each other there: some whistling rang out and they all got pissed off on the spot.

"SIGAANO~!" They growled.

"NOGAANO~…" Tabuu moaned back with an echo SFX.

"GRHCBTLXH!" The whole of them cursed.

"Heh, heh, heh. Ah, the burning youth indeed! Heh, heh, heh."

20:52 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So, Saito – niisan?"

"Blues was very energetic. But we did it rather complete."

"Blues is Blues. I'm who I am."

"Come on, Enzan – kun! It's not like I was saying you should've done it complete, too!"

"You were hinting at it, Rock Man."

"Jeez! How many times do we have to go over this? While living in my "cyborg body" I can be considered a human because I _am_ 90% human to begin with! So call me "Hikari Sr." like Tabuu does if that feels better for you but stop ignoring reality!"

"See?"

"Alright, alright. Hikari Sr. then! And now be quiet. I wanna sleep."

"Heh! Smug-faced jerk…"

Saito had woken up and was stretching: Netto was reading his _tankobon_ while Enzan kept his eyes closed and the hands beneath his head as he seemingly tried to fall asleep: Netto grinned while Saito looked slightly annoyed at his indifferent behavior.

"I know. Be quiet." He merely replied.

Saito grumbled and rummaged into his backpack to take his own Link PET out and check the inbox.

"Hum. Rafael fought against a resurrected Plant Man yet Tabuu pulled the guy out when he was starting to heat up. Well, no surprise. If he helped Corruption revive all those Net Navis last month then it's obvious that he can do it alone, too." Saito read.

"Maybe it was a test of his abilities…" Netto suggested.

Enzan merely shrugged his shoulders and soon began to sleep while Netto and Saito grinned and looked up to something…


	9. Chapter 9: Rise of the Black Tower

**Chapter 9: Rise of the Black Tower**

12:45 PM (Japan Time), Sunday November the 19th…

"… Oi. Hikari. Reply to the call."

"Jeez. Just when I was at the interesting point… Hello?"

"Today at 5 o'clock there is gonna be a show in Oosaka."

"Tabuu!"

"WHAT?"

The group of six had been on their way back to Akihara Town via the hi-speed train: Hikawa, Drake and Hiro had been engrossed in some discussion, Enzan had been napping, Netto had been reading the _tankobon_ and Saito listening to music when Netto's Link PET rang and Gufuu showed up onscreen.

"So that's why you were so quiet yesterday… You were plotting this!"

"Yep! I'm not the kind to snoop too deeply into someone's private stuff or force them to tell me things. Thus, I've ditched those Z – Militia people to handle on their own and now I can focus better." Tabuu sounded quite amused.

"What kind of show do ya mean?" Netto questioned.

"I hate spoilers." Tabuu merely replied.

"We knew that." Enzan shot back.

"Then, your questions were rather pointless, weren't they?" Tabuu sounded confused.

"We'd forgotten." Saito admitted.

"Ah. Then it makes sense."

"What time is it? Almost 1 o'clock… We've got about four hours, then. You're not gonna let out a hint like last time around?" Netto looked at his wristwatch and then questioned Tabuu.

"Hmmm… Sorry. But it'd give the surprise away." Tabuu seemed to be thinking about it before replying.

"Che." Netto scoffed.

"Don't be so annoyed! I'm gonna send you guys canned tuna as a _souvenir_!" Tabuu amusedly announced.

"… Something tells me this is gonna be somewhat similar to the earlier chaos but focused on Oosaka's center districts." Enzan announced.

"Bravo, Poirot – sama." Tabuu sarcastically congratulated.

"I'm gonna slice you up." Blues growled.

"That ain't Anduril, as far as I can see." Tabuu shot back.

"For the last time: I'm not Aragorn!" Blues growled again.

"Guts Man could go Grimli's role… And Search Man of Sharo could be Legolas! Magic Man could play Gandalf. And Sword Man would be Boromir. I'm not sure about the hobbits yet, but some of you guys would fit on the roles quite nicely, I'd say. Dr. Regal could even be Saruman: his beard fits." Tabuu listed.

"Yeah. Very exciting indeed." Drake drily told him.

"You wouldn't even amuse a fly." Hiro added.

"I agree." Hikawa added.

"Hmmm… Aha-hah! I've got it... My hint will be "Fortress"!" Tabuu suddenly announced.

"The Oosaka Castle, you mean to say? Or the inner perimeter of the castle?" Enzan assumed.

"Who knows?" Tabuu replied.

"You lowlife do." Blues replied.

"My. What manners." Tabuu sounded shocked.

"I don't give a cent for that." Blues told him.

"Indeed. And you guys don't as well, am I right?" Tabuu kept on sounding amused.

"Go to Alaska." Saito growled.

"Indeed: I'm going to visit Shadow Moses Island." Tabuu announced with some amusement.

"Shadow Moses Island…?" Enzan frowned.

"Bye-bye."

"Oi, wait… Damn. Shadow Moses Island is in Alaska's Fox Archipelago, the scene where the main action of _Metal Gear Solid_ takes place… The FOXHOUND – occupied civilian nuclear diposal facility with the adjacent military base…!" Hiro exclaimed.

"Oh yeah. I remember." Saito recalled.

"And you get to visit it again in _MGS4: Guns of the Patriots_, 9 nine years later." Hiro added.

"The "Shadow Moses Incident" is the start of everything: all events which take place later are a result of that incident."

"Then it had to be some big deal." Enzan calmly replied.

"… "Some big deal"! FOXHOUD seized Metal Gear REX and wanted to start chaos by shooting an invisible nuke at Lop Nor to provoke Choina and India allying and forcing the Ameroupe government to disclose the existence of the weapon, which FOXHOUND would then sell to the highest bidder…! That's not "some big deal"!"

"Clever guys." Enzan merely shrugged.

"Give up, Hiro. Nothing's gonna impress him."

"Che! Stone-faced jerk…" Hiro grumbled.

"I knew that."

Hiro fumed and resumed the earlier chat while Netto and Saito looked worried…

16:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Here we are. Oosaka center district and there's nothing. His avatar isn't anywhere to be seen and there was _nothing_ in Oosaka Castle. If this is a hoax then I'm gonna make raw bits and bytes of his ugly hide. We showed you the photo, right?"

"Yeah. He must be a medieval armor fan."

"Jeez! You and your sarcasm…"

"Cool it down, Netto – kun!"

"Enzan – sama. It is not wise to start a fight, sir."

"Hmpf."

"Hiro – kun… Don't be like that."

Netto, Hiro and Enzan were standing near the Tsuutentaku in the middle of Oosaka: Netto looked impatient, Enzan was shrugging and Hiro looked like he still carried on the bad mood from before: their Navis were trying to calm them down.

"16:57 PM… We're drawing closer." Blues reported.

"… Say. Don't you feel like the air is chilling?" Netto asked Hiro all of sudden.

"Huh? Yeah… And what's this smell? It smells like vulgar smoke, but, at the same time, it seems stronger than smoke…" Hiro began to sniff and looked thoughtful.

"Hmmm… This smell…" Enzan frowned.

"It somewhat makes you be reminiscent of the _onsen_…" Netto muttered as if he had a clue.

"Fortress… Smoke…" Hiro was seemingly trying to tie them together.

"16:59 PM…! Coming!" Rock Man warned.

"Show yourself, Tabuu!" Delta challenged.

The sky was suddenly filled with brownish-colored clouds and thunderbolts began to rain down in a 1 kilometer radius around the Tsuutenetaku tower.

"Whoa!"

The earth rumbled and something began to appear around the tower: black-colored smooth and stainless rock walls which rose until they were taller than the Tsuutentaku and formed a circular cover above its antenna spire: two curved horn-shaped black stone formations appeared as well.

"T-that's…!"

As if the dramatic appearance of the tower wasn't enough, four tall and large stone walls rose appeared to 'rise' from the ground in a 500 meters radius of the tower and form a compound, thus trapping all vehicles and persons inside of it.

"By all the…!"

The "Eye of Mordor" suddenly formed on top of the tower at the same time Orc-shaped Viruses materialized en masse around the whole district.

"… I know what that tower is! The Black Tower: Barad - dûr!" Rock Man gasped.

"And the sky and walls are supposed to be an overall recreation of the Mordor geography! This is why he named it a _fortress_!" Netto added while gasping.

"… This whole area is another modified "Dimensional Area", too. Let's use "Cross Fusion" and go fire him." Enzan rallied.

"Good!" Hiro grinned.

"But don't slow me down." Enzan warned.

"Che."

"Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!" The three of them exclaimed in unison.

Three flashes of light happened and Netto's dimmed first to reveal his "Cross Fusion" form: he took out the Rock Buster.

"Mine's similar."

"CF" Hiro's design looked very similar if not identical to Netto's with the only difference being the jet black and silver color pattern instead of sky blue and navy blue.

"Stop chatting. Follow me."

Enzan's "Cross Fusion" design had red armor over his upper torso and shoulders while his main bodysuit color was a mild blue color with tints of grey to it.

His helmet design was almost identical to Blues' but his shades were more transparent than Blues' own: the silver hair came out from behind the helmet and reached all the way to the ground.

His chest emblem was set on the middle of the armor and two white patterns climbing up towards the edges of the shoulders were drawn upon it.

His arms' skin coloring was divided in two: the upper half was colored in a gray/blackish color while the lower half was tinted mild blue.

Red armor formed over his forearms with one small wing-like formation set over the wrist: the armor around it had two round white bands reinforcing it plus a piece of bodysuit over the hand's palm which had his emblem drawn into it, too.

The rest of his bodysuit until the hips was colored in that combination of mild blue and grayish/blackish color running down the sides of it: there was a red triangle drawn over each hip before his boots began at a slightly lower spot.

An amber-colored diamond surrounded by black edges was built over the knees plus two extra white bands of armor around the knees themselves: the front edge of the boots was colored white and it had a golden rim marking the border between both colors.

"_Hai, hai_…" The other two muttered in a resigned tone of voice seeing how he believed he was their CO.

"Jet Vernier! "CF" Netto picks the left!"

"…Heh! "CF" Hiro picks the right!"

"Hmpf. "CF" Blues picks the center."

"CF" Netto and "CF" Hiro formed two jet exhausts on the lower edge of their backpacks while "CF" Blues formed jets on his soils: they floated upwards and began to fight some Viruses floating in the air before they reached the top and confronted the gigantic "Eye" although Gufuu was standing beneath it and bowing.

"Welcome! I'm sure I've left you guys speechless." Tabuu greeted.

"And what if you haven't?" "CF" Netto shot back.

"My. That's an intriguing question." Tabuu sounded amused.

"You're fired." "CF" Hiro told him.

"Fire my pawn firstly." Tabuu replied.

Before they could question him further, Plant Man appeared in front of them with his lustful face and his psychotic grin.

"Plant Man: there's a lot of public. Don't make anything obscene." Tabuu instructed in a rather serious tone.

"Roger." Plant Man bowed.

"You two. Let's go for the three-piece-sword strategy." "CF" Blues instructed in a hushed tone.

"We'll have to get rid of his shield firstly." "CF" Netto whispered back.

"Leave that to me." "CF" Hiro replied.

They all jumped up in different angles and positions, surprising Plant Man, who wasn't expecting such a move.

"Hell's Burner!" "CF" Hiro announced.

The Hell's Burner hit Plant Man fully and made him lower his guard, which would prove fatal.

"NOW! Program Advance! Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword! DREAM SWORD!" The three of them announced at the same time.

The three Dream Swords sliced Plant Man's body in three vertical pieces and he roared in agony before exploding: the Cross Fusion users landed back on the ground and aimed their weapons at Gufuu.

"… Alas. A pawn is just a pawn." Gufuu looked resigned.

"Game Over." They all announced.

"Hmmm… Not yet. I'll give you a display of my true abilities." Gufuu decided.

He lifted his right hand: the "Eye" suddenly lost its front part and became an empty black cavity with something shining inside of it.

"Cosmo Beam!" He announced.

A golden-colored beam of energy hit the ground inches from the feet of the "Cross Fusion" users and destroyed the materialized data, thus making them be pushed out of the edge of the tower by the shockwave: before they knew it, they were in free fall.

"Je-Jet Vernier!" They all shouted.

They managed to engage their jets and maneuver: how all of the Barad – Dûr copy was self-dematerializing and so were the adjacent perimeters walls: the Viruses began to self-delete, too and the sky began to revert to normal.

"Now I know what that smell was: volcanic ash!" Hiro seemed to have realized it by now.

"It was a hint as well, then…" Netto muttered.

"He's becoming a true copycat. That of the Eclipse was taken from a Nintendo DS game, and this is from the _Lord of the Rings_… When will he come up with something far more original?" Enzan grumbled.

"Yeah. I can't stand copycats." Hiro grumbled and looked like he didn't like the setup, either.

"Dunno. And now we know that he can use his Navi attacks despite having the avatar on place. I dunno how powerful that "Cosmo Beam" was supposed to be, but I'm glad it didn't hit any of us directly."

"Indeed." Gufuu taunted as he hovered over them.

"Come down 'ere and fight like a man!"

"I am afraid that this character isn't a "man" per se but a Piccol, the diminute race." He came up with a loophole.

"Ya sound like a lawyer." Hiro groaned.

"Truly." He sarcastically replied.

"Stop beign a copycat!"

"Sorry. But there's such a huge pool of stuff to be recycled that I cannot avoid temptations. Maybe you can?"

"Huh? This smell… Curry rice! All mine~!"

CRASH!

"Uh…"

THUD!

"What the hell!"

Netto had suddenly run off towards a nearby store when he crashed with the "air" and the hit made him become dizzy only to then collapse in the ground and look disconcerted: the other two gasped.

"Invisible walls hidden by refraction of light… Heh, heh, heh. A good tool to prevent temptations. Let us hope you learned the lesson, Hikari Jr.! Falling for temptations means a hit on the face."

"C-curry… r-rice… m-mine…" He muttered.

"Oh come on."

17:11 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hah! This one was a piece of a cake, too. Let's head back."

"Not so fast."

"O-Omega!"

Kratins Boo and his four subordinates were leaving another secret backup server area after hacking it when they stumbled upon Omega blocking the exit.

"That's as far as you come!"

"Che! Beasts! Rip him to shreds!" Kratins Boo ordered.

"Grrr!"

"Skre~!"

Both Beasts jumped towards Omega: the G – Beast began a series of quick punches and kicks all of which Omega dodged by simply changing the position of his head or body.

"Slow."

The F – Beast flew over him and tried to bombard him with several projectiles but Omega merely calculated where they'd land at and quickly sidestepped to dodge them.

"… Vanish." He coldly announced.

He rushed towards the G – Beast and delivered a kick to its lower jaw thus momentarily stunning it before he began a terrific set of combos: he swung the saber up and down three times, he jumped skywards with it to perform a rising diagonal attack, he jumped down and hit the ground with the saber, electrocuting it, created fin-shaped waves of energy which traveled across the ground to meet with it and began to roll around before he finally stabbed the saber deep into the chest emblem.

"GROA~R!" The G – Beast roared.

"NO WAY!"

Omega then took out his O – Buster and shot a charged shot at the F – Beast's chest armor melting it and exposing its main program inside of the body: the F – Beast dived towards Omega, who merely awaited and then performed his rising diagonal attack, splitting it in half.

"IMPOSSIBLE!"

"So? If your two pets went down so easily, do you three think you'll behave any better? Your days will end here and now. The UN will take care of dealing with the formalities." Omega announced.

"Nope. It's still too early for the finale, Omega…" A familiar voice corrected with a hint of amusement.

"Damn. Tabby – chan."

"Will you drop that nickname already?"

Omega turned around to see Gufuu there looking somewhat resigned and shrugging.

"Hmpf. I'd thought you'd said you'd split off with them." Omega scoffed and was unimpressed.

"I did. But I want them to cause some more ruckuses. We've still got some time before the deadline. And it's part of the contract with Nebula Grey, too." Tabuu announced.

"What deadline? And when did you start working with the freak Nebula Grey?" Omega frowned.

"I hate spoilers." Tabuu merely replied.

"No avatar is gonna stop me." Omega told him.

"I'd rather object. Cosmo Beam!"

The "Eye" formed above him and shot the beam at Omega: he was sent flying and past the three of them before he violently crashed against the armored wall, leaving a dent on its smooth and stainless steel.

"Damn. I feel like I've just broken all of my bones." He cursed.

17:58 PM (Japan Time)…

"… How is Omega – san like, Vadous – san?"

"He'll recover with some repairs…"

"Eh… By the way…"

"Yeah. It's true. Tabuu is an alien."

"Whoa!"

Netto and Saito had gotten home and were conducting a video-conference with Vadous over the PC.

"Long story short: he started a string of incidents to taunt me after he feigned his death in an accident and then, when Blood Shadow fought him, the combined power of their attacks caused a crack in time-space which dragged the guy from that faraway place to Earth. And to keep his campaign of proving who has more guts, he's come up with all these incidents." He summed up.

"I see. So this whole affair is a challenge aimed at Vadous – san, then? But… Where could he hide and how could he hide all that stuff like the towers and such?"

"The towers… No big deal. Change their color pallete values to blend with the environment and then materialize them or uncloak them. But he'd need a lot of computing power to do that. Maybe he's bugging servers and computers to create a "bot-net" of infected computers executing programs remotely and then working together to assemble them in large pieces. Not unlike how cars are made by pieces which are then assembled together…" Vadous told them.

"So you're going to try to pick his trail?" Saito asked.

"Yeah. Stay put. You need to rest after that of Oosaka. Later."

"Tabuu… We won't let him harm innocents out of eagerness to overcome his rival…!" Netto muttered.

Saito merely nodded in agreement and formed a serious face…


	10. Chapter 10: Playtime

**Chapter 10: Playtime**

18:28 PM (Japan Time), Sunday November the 19th…

DING DONG!

"… Coming…"

Tomono stood up from his house's living room sofa: today he was sporting jeans and a green wool jumper along with his slippers.

"Wait a minute…"

He opened his door's house and found Meiru on the entrance: she carried a sports bag over her right shoulder and had a smug smile on her face which made her looked _evil _while she wore a black leather coat, jeans and sneakers.

"Huh… Meiru – chan… Halloween was on October the 31st…" Tomono greeted while looking nervous.

"Ahem, ahem… Why don't you remove the security chain and let me inside, Noa – kun?" Meiru asked.

"… Eh… You look strange today, Meiru – chan… Have you eaten something which was in a bad state?"

"Noa – kun… It's useless to pretend. I have found it out." Meiru looked very confident of something.

"Found what?" Tomono asked.

"Two can play this game."

"Eh… But I thought you and Tooru – kun were…"

"That's true, yeah. And I have nothing to complain about. Yet… I want to broaden my horizons. Or should I tell everyone about what you do in break time? Should they see the real you?" She grinned.

"T-the real me…? B-but… How could you…?"

"A girl's intuition!"

"Meiru – chan! Go back home: I don't like this tone! I'll have to speak with your parents at this rate! Extorion is illegal!" Roll scolded.

"Yeah. Go home: extortionists aren't welcome here." Rafael added while looking annoyed.

"Fine. Then I'll tell everyone."

"W-wait! Don't rush, you two!" Tomono gasped.

"Noa – kun! Don't fall for the tricks! It's gotta be a bluff."

"Wanna see their faces tomorrow?" She formed a smug smile as she turned around and looked over her right shoulder.

Tomono suddenly hung his head down as if he'd been defeated and unlocked the security chain, allowing Meiru in.

"Noa – kun! What are ya doin'?" Rafael questioned.

"… Please leave us alone. Go elsewhere. It's a matter between human stuff. I don't think you two would get it." Tomono told Rafael without looking up.

"… What do we do, Roll – chan?" Rafael asked her in a hushed tone and sounding worried.

"… We can pretend to leave and then watch from somewhere in the house. If things look ugly, we'll ring for help." Roll suggested in a hushed tone.

"… Please come this way…" Tomono told Meiru.

Meiru grinned and followed Tomono into the first floor bedroom which had a desk, his bed, a chair and a bookcase put together with a poster of the Rome skyline at night plus a small closet which was currently locked.

"I'm so unlucky…" Tomono grimly muttered.

Tomono sat down on the bed while Meiru picked the chair: she left the sports bag on the ground and kept on looking evil.

"… How did you know, Meiru – chan…?"

"Heh, heh, heh… You'd sometimes look impatient. And you'd never been the impatient type before. You always remained in the classroom for the first ten minutes of the break and then went off. You always returned in less than ten minutes and you no longer looked impatient. You'd get impatient again at the last hour. You'd always try to rush out and get home quickly. I looked this up and I came to the conclusion that you were in the league. Tooru – kun also tends to do it so I had him admit to it and that he knew you did." Meiru listed with a hint of evil on her voice.

"Damn."

"But it's not like I'm an evil torturer. I'm just seeking a new form of thrill which few can grasp…" She trailed off in purpose.

"… Alright. Let's do it. But please don't come again. And don't tell anyone else, either…" He muttered.

"Good. Show me your stuff because I'm sure you have some."

Tomono stood up and took off his clothes to reveal S&M gear beneath them which consisted of a thin black leather band around his neck with a small metallic ring, two interconnected bands of adjustable bands which passed over his shoulders, ran down his sides and circled around his ankles, almost scratching his member: there were some pieces on his forearms and on his ankles as well.

"Where do you keep your toys?" Meiru questioned.

"… Third drawer…" Tomono muttered.

Meiru unlocked it and found a black plastic marker about 1cm thick and two clothes pegs: one was made of wood and the other was made of red-colored-plastic.

"Excellent! I see that you make sure to keep the other parts of your body busy. Stay here. I'm going to get geared up, too." Meiru sounded eager and victorious.

She grabbed the sports bad and left the room, leaving Tomono to sigh in defeat and look at the ground.

_About half a year ago, I began to feel different. I felt like my body had unexplored potential… So I decided to look for a way to bring out and I found out about S&M… I secretly acquired this gear with some savings of mine one day Rafael was busy busting Viruses around and I've been toying with myself every day… I even do it during break time at the school's toilet stall… Thus why I looked so impatient… It helped me shake off my denseness and become more awake and helped reinforce my concentration… I know Tooru – kun does it without this stuff but since we're so discrete and everyone knows us to be timid guys then they didn't realize… Ironic that she'd go after Tooru – kun first instead of me but that must be because she must've begun way back in 6__th__ grade. And I know what she intends to but I'll bear with it. It's just once in life. _

He was so concentrated that he didn't hear someone approaching him from behind: a black blindfold was tied around his eyes to stop him from seeing all of a sudden, and before he could react, his arms were placed behind his back and the two forearms pieces locked.

"Me – Meiru – chan?" He gasped.

A leather band with a plastic and hole-filled spheroid was placed in front of his mouth to muffle his voice while a chain was attached to the ring in his upper torso and yanked: he was forced to stand up and felt a plastic-glove-funded-hand gripping his balls hard.

"My. You look horny." Meiru's voice rang out.

_I didn't hear her coming in! _Noa inwardly gasped.

"Wait a min. You're missing a little something." Meiru announced while sounding eager.

Tomono felt how the clothes pegs were clipped on his nipples: the plastic one was put directly while the wood one was in a horizontal position.

"Come, slave. It's shower time." Meiru commanded in an evil – like tone of voice.

_We're gonna do this in the shower…? Well… I guess that it's more higenic than in the bed… _Tomono inwardly gulped.

He was forced to walk forward by Meiru until he felt how the ground his feet were stepping into it changed to the ceramic tiles of the bathroom: he then stepped into the shower and heard Meiru closing the opaque curtain to hide both of them.

"Hmmm… Like this."

The shower was engaged and he felt a shower of cold water hitting his balls suddenly turning them hard while the rest of his body was also showered with cold water.

_I'm gonna f-freeze at this rate, Meiru – chan! _Tomono inwardly protested while feeling like he was about to catch a cold.

The water soon turned hotter and he relaxed before he felt something thick, uneven and filled with spots forcing its way into his insides which seemed to be made of plastic.

_T-that's…! _

He then felt Meiru's plastic-glove-funded-hands gripping his balls very hard to the point that he yelled although his yell was totally muffled by the spheroid on his mouth.

"In case you were wondering, _slave_, this is called a _punishing tool_. I made up this name 'cause I don't like using vulgar slang. We women are not supposed to use it and I agree on it." Meiru announced, using a gallant-like register but even so using the "omae" pronoun (which was something women seldom used).

_You're contradicting yourself, then, Meiru – chan!_ Noa inwardly pointed out.

"Let's see how fast you can release." Meiru challenged.

The thing on Tomono's insides began to move in and out, slamming deeper and deeper with every hit whie Meiru was using her right hand to rub Tomono's cock and the left one to grip his balls.

"You'll soon be a good masochist." Meiru announced as she giggled under her breath.

_I already am…! _Tomono inwardly admitted.

He suddenly felt how he was about to attain release and began to concentrate to try to make it come out soon.

_Come out already!_

His upper torso and face were stained in his own liquid: he inwardly cried and then lowered his head, feeling out of energies.

_Phew. What next?_

He felt Meiru's fingers rubbing the tip of his cock and she suddenly let go of the chain: Tomono collapsed onto his knees, exhausted.

_Hey! Please try not to be rough with me! We're classmates!_

The spheroid on his mouth was released but before Tomono could recover his breath, the "punishing tool" was put inside of his mouth.

_Lovely! She stained it with the white stuff and now I have to cleanse it but it mustn't be that hard…_

"Have a taste of your own stuff, _slave_." Meiru commanded.

Noa obeyed and slowly licked and cleaned the object: Meiru set the pace by gripping his head from behind.

_There, done. Can we end this already?_

She soon took out the object and forced him to stand up: she put the spheroid back on its place and then began to pull the clothes pegs so as to stretch his skin but Noa inwardly yelled given how he wasn't used to this type of game.

_W-whoa! Cool it down, Meiru – chan! My body has its limits! I ain't a rock or a though guy! Please hold back! You'll break something on me!_ He inwardly requested.

He was then turned around and he felt how the chain was attached to something.

_Huh? What are you doing?_

He felt two metallic cuffs closing around his ankles and his legs were spread open: several clothes pegs were clipped into his balls' skin and some thin ropes being tied around his balls and the base of his cock to keep it hard.

_You want to make me feel ashamed or what?_

His urethra was plugged as well and a slightly narrower tool was forced into his insides.

_Hey! This is too much! Take it off!_

"… I'm going to bring you to the edge. This way, you'll become addict to this and look forward to this every week…" Meiru sounded eager.

_No, no! You're gonna drive me crazy? That's not legal!_

He felt a "click" sound and the thing on his insides began to vibrate with a repetitive mosquito-like sound: his cock soon started to bulge, but he couldn't come to.

_No more! Please! That's enough for one day! _Noa pleaded.

"Hmpf! I can see you struggling, _slave_. You're begging for me to end your pain?" Meiru questioned in an authoritarian tone.

_Yeah! Take that plug off!_

"Do you submit to my will and only my will?" Meiru questioned in the same tone.

_Whatever! Please let me release! _

"Then, let it be." Meiru sentenced.

She removed the spheroid and kicked his ball: Tomono yelled in agony and began to moan and groan as his body arched in a violent manner: Meiru then gripped the balls and began to exert force on them.

"Here goes."

She took the plug out and Tomono cried in pain as he released yet he suddenly lost consciousness…

19:14 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Uh… Ah… Where… am I…?"

Tomono slowly awoke and looked around: he'd been sleeping inside of his bed while having his green pajamas on: he felt his boxers beneath them as well as his S&M gear which he always carried.

"… My bedroom…"

He looked around while being seemingly disoriented: the window's shutter was half-lowered since there was no more sunlight present at this hour: everything on his room was neatly ordered and looked quite normal.

"Huh… I feel like I'd been doing something… But I can't remember what it was about… Did I dream it up?" Tomono muttered.

"You didn't, Noa – kun." Rafael's voice rang out.

Tomono looked at his hologram and realized that Rafael was pale and looked horrified.

"Rafael… What happened? It's the first time I've ever seen you so pale and horrified…" Tomono sluggishly asked him.

"… You really don't remember?" Rafael looked surprised.

"Remember what? All feels foggy." Tomono replied.

"What happened with Meiru – chan right now…"

Tomono suddenly gasped and his eyes went wide with fear and began to feel cold despite the blankets before he looked at his hands as if to make sure he was in one piece.

"Look: Roll – chan has decided to tell Hikari and Rock Man. Like it or not, she's almost destroyed your sanity and she's extortioned it. I dunno if she did the same to Ice Man's Operator but someone has to put the brakes into her before she goes out of control and starts to believe she can get away with it."

"… You know why we do this? Can you see the point of it?"

"I do, Noa – kun, I do. I now realize why that Plant Man jerk was looking me with that look of hunger: he's a sadist and were it not for Tabuu to check on him, he'd surely abducted me and raped me until he'd been satisfied." Rafael told him.

"… I see."

"Look, if you wanted to do that on your own or go out with another guy then it ain't my problem. But as your Net Navi, your health is number one priority to me. And this was something which shook your body and brain so I gotta look after you." Rafael sighed.

"I know… I… I fell for it…"

"I'm sure you're not the only guy who feels an urge to do this stuff from time to time but there has to be someone who sympathizes with ya in that… Well, I doubt Gorilla Man's Operator being of any use, but I'm sure Akashi and Delta could've helped you… Delta once confessed to me that he'd been a sadist time ago but was able to start anew."

"What?" Tomono gasped.

"And that was because I wanted to hear his opinion on Plant Man's odd behavior, so, one thing led to the other… He admits that he can't remember it so that's why he was able to start anew and he's now more like of a masochist… And he agrees with me that we gotta halt Meiru – chan NOW or it'll be too late." Rafael sighed.

"Yeah… Someone has to put a stop to her, but… She's too prideful and will most likely not deter from her goal so easily…"

"I know. But you gotta rest: tomorrow is a Monday so we need to be at max energy. Good evening."

"Good… evening…"

Tomono immediately fell asleep but his face displayed pain so Rafael sighed and sounded depressed.

_Noa – kun… What can we do? I don't wanna see you in pain. We need to stop this madness!_

19:19 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmmm? What's Sakurai's name doing in this store's customer list? I thought she legally couldn't buy that? Or did she fall for my irony?"

Gufuu was working in something using a holographic screen inside of the satellite when he seemingly picked something up: he frowned and looked surprised.

"… You gotta be kidding me. My irony attemps backfire on me?"

He brought up a list of something accompanied by pictures, text, and a price tag: he scanned it and began to look surprised.

"Lovely. Wait until _aibou_ gets a hold of this. The last thing we'd need, really! Another "Ice Queen"…!" He grumbled.

He muttered something undecipherable under his breath before opening up a gmail inbox and starting to write a message.

"Wait. Hmmm… Yeah. It's the right thing to do. The Hikari Brothers alone won't be enough to convince her to halt. No. I need _aibou_. He will find a way, I'm sure of it."

He wrote a mail and attached a word document in which he pasted the captured screens of the website: he then wrote a text into the recipient and sent it.

"If _aibou_ has a mail notifier app then he'll soon catch up with it and call the Hikari Brothers. Let's continue with the surveillance on the Z – Militia guys…" He sighed.

He switched screens by snapping his right hand's thumb and index fingers to bring up imagery of the Z – Militia trio going over some data and laughing.

"Another server raid taking profit of Omega's damage… Maybe I went a bit overboard, but I don't want this show to end prematurely. Well then, laugh while you can, but once my deadline expires…"

He giggled under his breath…


	11. Chapter 11: True Power

**Chapter 11: True Power**

19:27 PM (Japan Time), Sunday November the 19th…

"… No matter how you try to justify it… You've gone way over the edge, Meiru!"

"Save your hero speech for you own hide."

Netto was talking with Meiru via the Link PET and trying to make see her that she'd gone beyond all acceptable limits: she refused to accept it for the time being.

"What "hero speech"? It's common sense!" Netto protested.

"Whatever. I was bored of the same thing each week. I need some variation to the pattern." She shrugged.

"…"Pattern"! People aren't "patterns"! Tooru – kun tagged along because he didn't want to turn you down: but you've forced Noa – kun to participate and almost drove him crazy! Who do you think you are, Meiru?" Netto grumbled.

"I am a woman who will _never_ allow anyone to exert control over her own self. That's all." Meiru shot back.

"Aren't you supposed to be a _girl_ still?" Netto questioned.

"Nah. I've already matured." Meiru replied.

Saito was sitting on a corner of the room and trying to ignore Meiru and Netto's discussion: his Link PET rang thus snapping him out of his gloomy mood so he checked the number: it was Vadous.

"Good evening."

"Good evening, Vadous – san."

"… I'm telling you to snap outta it already! I've got nothing against feminism: but I despise extortion!" Netto yelled: the discussion was heating up.

"It's not "extortion"! I didn't get the info illegally!" Meiru shot back.

"Che! And why didn't you keep it secret? "A secret makes a woman, woman" … Or so Mama says." Netto argued.

"It was too good to let it pass!"

"… So it was true." Vadous muttered.

"Huh? Excuse me, sir?"

"Wouldn't you know? Tabuu mailed me. But not to brag. He sent me a list of S&M stuff Sakurai bought recently and I realized that she'd even made a secret visit to the former head of an all-female club to get advice. Who has she tried to drive crazy? Hikawa?"

"Eh… Well… Not… Noa – kun… Tooru – kun has been at it for a while but it'd seem that she hadn't driven him to the edge like what happened tonight with Noa – kun…"

"Tomono… Being forced to cooperate with the Z – Nation first and now this? He's gonna get depressed at this rate. Damn. History is repeating itself!" He growled.

"Excuse me?" Saito frowned.

"Didn't I tell you guys? About the "Ice Queen"…"

"Oh. True. Wait! Do you mean…?"

"She began just like your friend over there and look what she became in a few years' time." He whispered.

"By all the…!"

"Let me talk with her. We need to snap her outta that or else we'll get a second "Ice Queen" out there…!"

"Roger."

Saito nodded and walked towards Netto: he tapped him on the back of his right shoulder.

"What's up?" Netto asked as he looked over his shoulder with a surprised face.

"Vadous – san is on my line. He wants to speak with her."

Netto was surprised, but, nevertheless, he connected his call so that Vadous could also participate.

"Good evening. I believe this is the first time we met. I am Vadous. You may call me Zataki as well." Vadous introduced himself.

"I think Hiro mentioned you as a distant relative of his…" Meiru frowned and was seemingly recalling.

"Miss. Will you allow me to tell you one thing?" Vadous politely asked of her.

"Huh? Eh… Sure." Meiru looked surprised.

"… Can you imagine how you could end up like this?" Vadous asked.

"… Huh… You mean to say in the near future?" Meiru assumed.

"Indeed."

"Huh… Maybe… I'd go search for… more power… to try to make my opinion be respected…" Meiru slowly replied.

"That happened to a person I knew." Vadous announced.

"Huh? Really?"

"However… That person became tainted by "Evil" once she acquired the power she was looking for. All of her initial ideals, which were rather noble, turned into a greedy lust to inflict pain and damage to others. It became a lust to _rule_ over everything… So she ended up becoming a dreadful underground night club network boss... She ruled over all of the Japan underground as the dreaded "Ice Queen"…!"

"… The "Ice Queen"…!" Meiru began to look nervous.

"And she didn't care how many suffered: she would enjoy it over and over again. She'd become a "Demon" in human form. I happened to be controlled by her. I was fooled by her façade, like many others."

"B-but, then…"

"But one day I had the courage to try to see what was beneath that façade. And it changed me wholly. I could no longer bear it: that person was going to make a whole nation suffer just to fulfill her lust. So, I had to stop her. And so I did: I reported everything I knew to the authorities and then she got arrested. But the damage was already done: thousands, if not tens of thousands of victims still suffer and are desperately trying to break apart from that horrible past, to bury it, to destroy it…" Vadous explained in an icy voice which was obviously holding at bay his wish to explode into anger.

"_Kami - sama_…!" Meiru had turned pale.

"So? Do you see the parallelism on it? That person began just like you. Look where she ended up at." Vadous summarized.

"… I…" Meiru looked like the whole story had shattered away her earlier stubbornness.

"Can you imagine what does each and every one of those victims feel like? Some of them were rescued when they'd almost lost all of their mindset and become vegetables… Their bodies don't forget, unlike their minds. Some of them are doomed to be unable to resume the life they had before, the life which was stolen by that woman's proxies and which will _never_ return. Ever." Vadous continued.

"L-life stolen… forever…! I… I…!"

"But it's not too late. If you look down at the eart beneath you then you will realize that one person can't change the world. Did you think Bill Gates or Steve Jobs alone changed the world? But that was because they were the ones to be publically recognized. Other persons behind the scenes were necessary to achieve their triumphs."

"… I… then… what… should I do…?"

"If you keep it as a mere game between friends and always remember that the person is your friend, a friend you care for, I'd say that it won't be much of a trouble."

"… I should… speak with Noa – kun… and apologize…"

"You should. People can get frustrated and attempt to take their frustrations out into something yet we must remember to hold back and think rationally before that."

"… I'm so sorry… I caused trouble for him and tried to extortion him… Something got a hold of me… I don't understand how this could have happened, really…!" She muttered.

"It isn't too late! You can still start anew! Focus! Remember who you are and concentrate!" Vadous told her.

"… T-thank you, mister… Now I realize… what I almost did… I need to go speak with him… good evening…"

The call ended and both Vadous and the twins sighed in relief upon seeing how they'd managed to make her see the wrong of her ways.

"Thank you for your help, Vadous – san."

"Don't mind it. It'd seem Tabuu did get influenced by me when I told him how I despised those kinds of businesses. Guess he doesn't get the whole of it but doesn't like someone destroying a person's mindset just for "lust" or "fun"… But I'm picked about this "deadline" he told Omega…"

"Speaking of Omega – san…"

"Repairs 99% complete… I let him switch out to his crazy humor mode so that he then doesn't try to go out there for reckless payback especially since the Pocket Monsters in the Secret Area have been upgraded to include final evolutions and be at Level 75. Any Navi entering that fray has its program being changed to behave like a Pocket Monster at Level 50 with the four-technique moveset so they need to train before tackling the big guys." Vadous explained.

"Guess he _did_ get hooked." Netto muttered.

"Sure thing… And "downed" Navis are warped out at the Official Square, too… Forte has been training like mad down there for hours and hours: he's obsessed with breaking through them." Vadous told them with a shrug of shoulders.

"I can picture him and "Gospel Jr." blowing everything up on their path, yeah… But won't Serenade get annoyed at that?"

"He is too civilized to ever get angry or annoyed. He might become molested but nothing past that."

"We'd heard there are another two Net Navis as well…"

"Yamato Man: former Commander of the Science Labs Elite Unit. Dark Man: a Net Navi assassin. His goal is to assassinate 10,000 Net Navis no matter how much time it takes."

"WHAT?"

"Believe it or not, that was the challenge Serenade gave him so that he could be allowed a rematch."

"Whoa."

"And last time I checked he'd reached past the 9,700 mark."

"Yikes."

"But Yamato Man is more like a ferocious _samurai_ who has honor and is very skilled." Vadous described.

"What a contrast!" Netto muttered.

"Yeah. Like plus and minus…"

"Not a bad analogy, really… Well then, I'm off. Good evening."

"Good evening."

"… Meiru – chan got tempted. And I'm sure that "Nebula Grey" freak is somehow involved, too. I'd stake anything on that." Netto sighed and stretched.

"Obviously… The thing can't just stir up "hate" and "grudge", it now must find it way easier to stir "lust" and "power hunger"…"

"But if we all remained united that thing doesn't stand a chance!"

They both clashed hands: their union was unbreakable…

19:48 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Kush, kush… Any ideas, Yamato Man?"

"Hmmm… I have one, Dark Man."

"Good! Tell me."

"Let's begin with the weaker ones, build up experience and stats and then move into the middile ones. Let's try taunting some of them and one of us should try to act decoy to lure some away. We could then access the satellite and get an idea of what Gufuu is plotting."

"Bravo! I'll be bait."

"Excellent! Go!"

Dark Man and Yamato Man were standing in the Cyber World area near where the entrance to the satellite was located at and facing a crowd of Pocket Monsters: the main components were "Menokurage", "Nazonokusa", "Caterpie", "Beedle" and, lastly, "Gardie" in the first row: some unlit figures could be seen in the background, too, forming a row plus a third rear row.

"Killer Beam! Make way for Dark Man – sama!"

"Yamato Man orders you to step aside!"

"Holy Shock. I shall go."

"Reverse King!"

"… "Serenade" is already fine."

"Dark Shadow!"

"Thousand Spear!"

Some of the Pocket Monsters began to chase after Dark Man and Yamato Man when they turned around and ran out: Serenade was left to face with "Regice", "Regirock", "Registeel" and "Regigigas" as the last defense line before the famed Warp Point: Serenade was unimpressed as he loaded up energy for his next attack.

"Return to your world. Holy Shock!"

Serenade spread his right hand's palm and formed some greenish spheroids of energy which travelled across the air and ground at a maddening speed: more and more of them formed and bombarded the four Pocket Monsters in several spots of their bodies.

"Hmmm… It would seem "Holy Shock" is classified as a "Special" Technique with an accurary of 100% and a base power of 100. It can inflict "Confusion" into the foes. 30 PP… Esper Type…"

The four Pocket Monsters collapsed and were deleted so Serenade stepped into the Warp Point and reached the insides of the satellite where he was greeted by Gufuu, who was making a reverence.

"My, my… Reverser King Serenade – sama in person. I feel honored to have such a distinguished guest in this humble abode."

"Where is Proto? Where is that foul copy of me?"

"Up there." Gufuu signaled with his right arm.

Serenade quickly jumped upwards and hovered into the air: he spotted a copy of his turned into a stone statue inside of the protective dome along with the "Proto" container.

"… Holy Shock."

The multiple attacks hit the barrier and were quickly used to power up the central cylinder: however, some circuitry boards began to explode and frizzle and Gufuu looked around, surprised: Serenade had made one of the ribbons stand near the base of the cylinder to bounce the energy back upwards and have the second ribbon bounce it downwards thus creating an infinite loop.

"Crap! In this condition… The energy is channeled to secondary circuits yet they aren't designed to handle so much power so they're overloading! H-he's planning on making the satellite's core grown unstable to blow it up, then!" Gufuu gasped.

"Can your avatar stop me, Tabuu?"

"… Guess it can't be helped…"

Gufuu vanished and there was a soft sound before it was followed by the typical sound of a Navi's Plug – In: Tabuu's real form, armor and wings included, formed in the air above Serenade.

"Come! Energy!"

Tabuu drew two golden-colored Long Swords over his wrists and spread his legs and arms open: the overflowing energy began to build up around his body but in his haste he began to deplete the barrier's energy as well: he gasped as Serenade began to accumulate energy on both of his hands while standing in front of the Proto container.

"If I destroy the physical means to its existence then all of the program will fall apart and be deleted! Be gone, ghost of the past!"

"APOCALYPSE NOW!"

"What!"

Tabuu suddenly released all of the stored energy in the form of four consecutive shockwaves: horizontal, NW to SE, SW to NE and vertical which cracked the ground: he fell down while a black hole opened in the middle of the space and Tabuu, the copy and "Proto" were sucked inside before it closed: Serenade hit the ground and groaned before standing up and rushing out.

"… Mission failed…! And the power core turned unstable so this is going to explode! I must flee!" He muttered.

He ran out of the satellite and into the Secret Area just as the Warp Point was deleted: he formed an annoyed face and stood there: Dark Man and Yamato Man remained silent.

_Tabuu…! What power…! This is not over, though…!_

"Let us go back and meditate."

"Roger!"

_Meditation is the way to avoid ill temptations… Let us meditate!_

"What happened, my Lord?" Yamato Man asked.

"I was about to destroy the barrier protecting Proto and my foul copy yet in the end Tabuu showed up and unleashed his true power at me. I had no choice but to flee before the satellite crumbled."

"Ah! I see. Is it so frightful?" Dark Man asked.

"Hard to say… I was not prepared for such an output because I thought he would rather defend than attack. But if you are ready for it then you might stand some chance. Some. I cannot guarantee anything at this stage, when I have so little information." He described while rubbing his chin.

"Huff, huff… What's the situation?" Blues rushed in.

"As I was saying… The satellite is gone so Tabuu has been forced to relocate yet I have proven that there is a clear limit to what his avatar can do before he is forced to personally show up."

"I see. Any suggestions?" Enzan asked.

"None. We did not really fight. He pulled the best he had at hand and then fled. Do not underestimate him. That is a warning, Blues. He is not your average Navi: I could feel it." He shrugged.

"If you say so…" Blues was surprised.

"I wasn't expecting any small fry after seeing all he's come up with in recent days." Enzan muttered.

"Of course, Enzan – sama."

"I have warned you. Oh well. Let us go, my comrades."

"Roger!"

"Strengthen the guard. We shall not let Tabuu play around in our territory anymore. This has come too far."

"Obviously enough!" Enzan fumed.

_We must remain cool and composed. If one keeps their cold blood then they can calmy analyze the battle. I shall find a weak spot there…!_


	12. Chapter 12: Freakish General

**Chapter 12: Freakish General**

11:12 AM (Japan Time), Monday November the 20th…

"… Man! What a fright we got when we saw that footage Serenade recorded… Tabuu's power was really so frightening…! The satellite blew up and now we've lost our only lead to his whereabouts."

"Yeah… To think Serenade forced him to show his real form… So he is in the real world, using a Copy Roid, and works with a physical computer, hence the avatars…"

"But at least Meiru apologized to Noa – kun and they decided to forget the whole tale…"

"Yeah. Thank goodness. She did get to slap Dekao out of annoyance for him butting in and trying to hit Noa – kun saying he'd stolen "HIS" Meiru from him… Now the guy is beign scolded by the home room teacher… What a guy!"

"Yeah… This town is turning crazy…"

"Totally…"

Netto and Saito were chatting inside of their classroom after the morning classes were over and during the break.

"Ahem, ahem… Those two will most likely not come. They're in a meeting with the sovereign." A familiar voice rang out.

They both gasped upon spotting Gufuu standing in front of the inscription-filled blackboard.

"Who are "those two"?" Netto questioned.

"M & F." Tabuu merely replied.

"M &F?" Saito frowned.

"And what's the point of it?" Netto questioned next.

"Do you two really think two mere agents will be allowed to see the sovereign?" Tabuu hinted.

"… True. No normal person can visit the Emperor just like that…" Saito brought a hand to his chin.

"That's because Ms. Secretary was pointing out in a nice way that they were having some cups of Mr. Super's 'sovereign' cognac." Tabuu announced.

"What? They drank their boss' cognac during work time?" Netto was baffled.

"Indeed! Mr. Super started to chase them with a thick wood stick and roaring: "I'm gonna rip their skins out! I'm gonna rip their ribs out! I'm going to pulverize them!" … Whaddya think outta it?" Tabuu quoted, obviously amused.

"No wonder." Saito shrugged.

"Yeah. Anyone would've reacted the same way." Netto shrugged as well.

"And we saw your true hide, too." Saito told him.

"Obviously."

"What are you up to today?"

"I'm trying to think of how to entertain the audience before I meet my twelve-day-deadline which ends in December the 1st." Tabuu merely replied.

"What? You've got a deadline and it is gonna happen in a matter of twelve days?" Netto asked.

"Yessir. Mortadelo and Filemón are gonna compete with me to see who can round up the most villains in that time." He grinned.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure thing." Saito looked skeptical.

"Beware. It's about to rain clones. Well then… See you 'round!"

"Oi! Wait!"

Gufuu vanished and both of them grumbled yet they immediately brought the hands to their chins…

11:25 AM (Japan Time)…

"… I wonder what that guy is up to…"

"I dunno myself."

"Wha!"

Obihiro had been working with his laptop and muttering aloud when Gufuu's face filled the whole of his laptop's LCD screen: he gasped and jumped off the chair from the surprise.

"Are ya ready for "Tabuu's Crazy Humor Show", Obihiro?" Tabuu asked with obvious amusement.

"What "Crazy Humor Show"?" Obihiro frowned.

"I prophesize that there's gonna be a load of burnt out HDDs in your basement storage room." Tabuu announced.

"H-hey! D-don't you dare to do anything to my laptop!" Obihiro gasped.

"Of course not: in fact, it's the short-sighted next door neighbor the one who's gonna put them there mistaking the "3" for the "2"…" Tabuu amusedly replied.

"I don't have a short-sighted next door neighbor, and my number is the 17, not the 3!" Obihiro protested.

"My. It'd seem my guesses tend to be way off the mark." Tabuu amusedly commented.

"Whaddya want outta me?" Obihiro questioned.

"I thought you'd understand my humor." Tabuu merely replied.

"I don't see the point of it." Obihiro shot back.

"Then jump off the Empire State Building." Tabuu suggested with a broad smile.

"Are you crazy?" Obihiro yelled.

"No. I'm black-humored."

"Hello. I've come to check on those programs that - Tabuu!" Someone exclaimed inside of the PC.

Gufuu quickly turned around to see Omega, who'd walked in and had drawn his O - Saber.

"Yo! Omega. I was competing to see who has the weirdest humor around here but I guess _aibou_ is locking it as of late. It must dry him crazy to no ends, then?" He grinned.

"Guess so. Now face me."

"Oh my! You came! G – Chis!"

"G – Chis?"

Omega turned around but Gufuu used the chance to vanish: Omega growled and looked pissed off.

"Bothersome meddling guy! Making me believe the boss of Plasma Gang was trying to sneak on me…!" He growled.

"He tried to scare me, too!" Obihiro protested.

"…Whatever. How are those programs which _shachou_ requested of you going like, Obihiro?" Omega asked.

"I was about to contact him: they're totally debugged by now." Obihiro admitted.

"Thanks. Here's the agreed payment for your services."

"Good. Contact me if you need something else."

"Obviously. Later."

Omega left and Obihiro opened the web browser: he typed "G – Cis" on Goggle and brought up the Japan Wikipedia page.

"… Intriguing origin for his name, yeah… And he really spooks the hell outta you, too, with this theme…!" He muttered.

He felt a shiver go down his spine and resumed working…

11:44 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh…!"

"What is the source of such happiness, Higure – san?"

Higure looked very excited today so Number Man questioned the root of that good humor while sounding surprised.

"Heh, heh, heh… I made some good sales, de masu! I'm going to become the Number#1 Chip seller in Japan! I'll open a Mega Store, de masu! Mega Higureya, de masu!" Higure announced.

"Fascinating! I'll take care of the business once you go off to your Jawaii mansion to crown yourself Emperor of Jawaii." An amused voice rang out close by.

"That's it, de masu! I'm so lucky, de masu!" Higure believed it was Number Man who spoke.

"… Look behind you, Higure - san." Number Man told him.

Higure turned and met Gufuu: he was hovering in the air so that his face was directly in front of Higure's while his cape was spread out and a grin stretched across his face.

"YA~H! DE MASU~! A GHOST, DE MASU~! RUN FOR THE CHIPS, DE MASU~!" Higure yelled.

He jumped over the counter and rushed out of the store while having his Link PET on his right hand: he didn't stop until he'd crossed six blocks at top speed and he then leaned on a street light to regain breath.

"Higure - san… That was a hologram." Number Man announced in a resigned tone.

"… A~H! DE MASU~! NO~! MY CHI~PS, DE MASU~! MY CHI~PS, DE MASU~!" Higure yelled.

He ran back at top speed inside of the store wielding a broom as if it were a _katana_: Gufuu was still there and glanced at the shelves behind him over the right shoulder.

"The broken Piccol blade?" Gufuu taunted.

"Stop kidding around, de masu! Fight like a man, de masu!" Higure challenged.

"Sorry. I'm not in the mood, Higure – chan." Tabuu sarcastically replied.

"DE MASU~!"

Higure jumped over the counter and tried to hit Gufuu with the broom as it were a sword, but he hit the shelves and a pile of Battle Chip cases began to fell all around him, burying him beneath it.

"De masu~…! This must be another omen, de masu!" Higure grumbled while sounding dizzy.

"Excellent. Bravo. I'll make sure to tell everyone about your plans of the Mega Store. Bye-bye, Higure." Tabuu sounded extremely amused.

"De masu… O~w… My head, de masu…"

"Higure – san, you got excited and…!"

"WA~H! MY STORE, DE MASU~! IT'S A MESS, DE MASU~! WHAT ARE THE CLIENTS GONNA SAY, DE MASU~? MY DOOM, DE MASU~! I'M DOOMED, DE MASU~!" Higure yelled.

"Eh… But what I wanted to say is that…" Number Man began.

"A~H! DE MASU~! RUIN, DE MASU~! SHAME, DE MASU~!"

"No, I didn't mean to…"

"BRING ME A GOOD LUCK CHARM, DE MASU~!"

"But, Higure – san, you should…"

"SOMEONE SAVE ME, DE MASU~!"

"No good. I just wanted to say he could begin by placing the cases back on the shelves but it'd seem that he won't listen to me."

Higure kept on grabbing both sides of his head and looking in panic while Number Man sighed in defeat…

10:44 AM (Taiwan Time)…

"… This marks yet another success. It'd seem that even that Omega can't decide if we're more important than Tabuu or not."

"Excellent."

Kratins Boo reported the success of another operation conducted by the Z – Militia and General Sentou looked eager.

"You're improving, _ane – ue_. Or is it my imagination?"

"Sod off, _otouto_. Go buy soda."

"My, my."

"Ahem, ahem!" Kratins Boo cleared his throat.

"_Taichou _– dono!" Both saluted.

"No fights." He commanded as he turned around and made his sheer mole loom over them.

"R-roger!"

"December the 1st."

The group gasped and turned around to spot Gufuu floating high on the air while looking serious, for once: his arms were folded and the cape was covering most of his body including the lower face.

"W-what are you implying! What happens in December the 1st?" Kratins Boo demanded.

"I gotta say farewell 'cause other affairs will recall the full of my attention. This is my way to kill the time before I gotta leave. Afterwards, I estimate that _aibou_ will hand you over to the UN in less than 24 hours." Tabuu replied.

"You lowlife…! Show your form and fight us!" Kratins Boo challenged.

"I'll show you this: Cosmo Beam!"

"What!"

The "Eye" formed and emptied to shoot the attack at Kratins Boo: he was catapulted towards a decorative concrete column and shattered it due to his mass and speed: he groaned and managed to stand up while rubbing the aching parts of his body.

"There. A demonstration."

"You lowlife!"

"It's about to rain generals." He looked skywards.

"What?"

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah! Well then! Bring it on, Kenobi! Come! Lord Tyrannus himself taught me the arts of you Jedi!"

"T-that's…!"

"May I introduce you to General Grievous?"

"No way!"

The cyborg alien dropped down from the "sky" while having spread his four arms and wielding four ignited light-sabers in each one: the three of them gasped while Gufuu formed a smug smile.

"Enjoy your chit-chat."

Gufuu vanished with a giggle wihile General Grievous began to spin the hands at a maddening speed thus starting to leave incandescent cuts on the groud.

"Sun Meteors!"

"Moon Meteors!"

"Missile Barrage!"

Grievous, however, cut down all attacks and was unaffected: he even bounced off the giant laser.

"No way!"

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah!"

"Damn! There's gotta be a way to fight that guy back!"

"Ball!"

Kratins Boo formed a disc with eight slices and a round center: the slices came off and spread in a circular formation: three of them rained down from above and their sharp edges barely inflicted a single scratch on Grievous' exoskeleton.

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah!"

"This guy can't do anything but laugh?" Moonlight cursed.

"Sounds like it…!" Sunlight grumbled.

"Grenades!"

Kratins Boo formed three grenades labeled "NAPALM" and tossed them at Grievous head-on: he sliced each on half but the napalm on them quickly ignited and began to melt the light-sabers but was unable to inflict any harm to the exoskeleton: he stopped and drew four blaster pistols next which he began to spin at different angles.

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah!"

He began to shoot and made each shot bounce off thus creating a myriad of laser shots akin to a cage.

"First sabers, now blasters, what next? Electric pikes?" Kratins Boo cursed aloud as he tried to take cover.

"Sun Meteors!"

"Moon Meteors!"

"Rail Laser!"

The attacks knocked the guns off his hands and the laser shot by the gun Kratins Boo held impacted the chest armor thus blowing it up and revealing his organic nucleus: Grievous quickly covered it with his four hands and looked up with a murdering look before drawing four two-ended electric pikes.

"Gruwa~h!"

He leapt across the air and hit both Navis with each end of each pike thus being hit eight times in different parts of the body each one: Kratins Boo took profit of his obsession and jumped over him to seize him from behind and then shoot the gun at zero-range thus making the nucleus explode and Grievous fall dead into the ground before being deleted.

"What a freak!" Moonlight cursed.

"We barely won!" Sunlight gasped.

"Damn Tabuu!"

"Yeah! Double-sided snoob bastard!" General Sentou hissed.

"So, what do we do?" Moonlight sighed.

"Whaddya think, _ane – ue_? Keep on! We're gonna leave a name behind at the very least!" Sunlight rallied.

"Correct! We might not be able to rebuild our nation but we will leave a name behind, a feared name!" Kratins Boo exclaimed.

"True! That's what we gotta aim for!" General Sentou confirmed.

"Nothing and no – one will stop us anymore!" Moonlight boasted.

"Yeah! We'll sweep through all elite corps and not even those "_Three Musketeers_" will be able to deal with us!" Sunlight yelled.

"With our overwhelming power… We'll become the most feared guerilla on Earth!"

"HORRAY~!"

They didn't spot a purple-colored Air Man looking at them from a distance and making a hollow chuckle.

"What bothersome foolish Net Navis! They are but pawns who have taken in my will to stir chaos, hatred, grudge and anger!"

The purple Air Man chuckled under his breath…


	13. Chapter 13: Freezing Scheme

**Chapter 13: Freezing Scheme**

19:49 PM (Japan Time), Monday November the 20th…

"... Brrr! The temperature is eight degrees Celsius on the outside. And we're at November! Imagine how much colder this can become in a month's time!"

"Yep… It'd seem we're gonna have a harsh winter."

Hiro and Drake were talking just before climbing into their beds to sleep that evening.

"In any case… Let's go to sleep. I've gotta be up by 7 o'clock." Hiro suddenly yawned.

"Roger, Hiro – kun. Good night." Drake yawned as well.

Both climbed into their beds to sleep but had failed to notice Tabuu's Gufuu avatar inside of Hiro's Link PET.

"… How much colder… Thanks for the idea, Akashi. I'll make sure to put you in the "Special Thanks" category when I edit the credits…" He muttered in a low tone.

He vanished and then reappeared somewhere in the Cyber World and in front of a pair of gates with the banner "BUBBLE MAN – SAMA'S WORKSHOP" set on them: he stepped inside and turned off the lights.

"Puku? Who comes here, puku?" A voice rang out.

"Bubble Man EXE. You will be useful." He replied.

"What, puku?"

"Sleep for a while… And I shall take your data!"

"Wha? D-don't come, puku!"

"Too late. Nothing stops Sorcerer Gufuu!"

"PUKU~!"

"Hah, hah, hah, hah!"

07:02 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday November the 21st…

BEEP – BEEP – BEEP

"… Shut the trap up!"

SMASH!

"Hiro – kun!"

Hiro had gotten a bad mood seizure because of the alarm clock beeping, so he threw it towards the ground, startling Drake, who scolded him.

"Sorry! I didn't realize." Hiro apologized.

"Be careful or you'll break it. And you yourself said that you had to wake up at 7 o'clock." Drake told him.

"You're starting to sound like a big brother." Hiro pointed out.

"I'd rather be the younger, thank you. But I'm supposed to point out bad habits, too." Drake calmly replied.

"… Yeah. I'm gonna wash my face and get dressed. You should get ready to return to the PET." Hiro announced.

He dragged his feet out of the bedroom while Drake fixed the alarm clock and left it on its place before he opened the blinder and gasped: the whole of the city's streets were frozen and the whole area was filled with snow.

"There was no prevision of snow in the news! That's so weird!" He muttered aloud.

PING! BEEP – BEEP – BEEP!

"Mail for Hiro – kun?"

Drake picked the Link PET and checked the inbox: he suddenly gasped and read it again only for his jaw to hit the ground.

"E~H? How's that possible?"

"What's wrong?" Hiro asked.

"Please have a look, Hiro – kun!" Drake told him.

"… "We regret to inform that today's classes are cancelled due to the fact that the whole institute is encompassed inside of a mass of ice and there's no human way to get inside. The authorities are working on the matter, but they doubt it being solved in just one day. The institute direction." … No way!" Hiro read aloud before uttering his own comment.

"This is so strange! First: there was no prevision of snow. Second: the temperature is eleven degrees Celsius on the outside! That ice shouldn't be able to withstand!" Drake pointed out.

"You're not gonna tell me this is Tabuu's new work!" Hiro cursed while apparently realizing the one to blame for this mess.

"I'm sure it is. The matter will be getting inside and getting rid of the ice encompassing the building."

"… I'm sure Commissioner Kifune will summon us for a briefing session so let's get changed and head over there. I'm gonna put the uniform, nevertheless. Maybe we can have classes despite this if we solve the affair." Hiro announced.

"Okay."

He opened the drawers and picked his uniform plus a pair of boxers: he got changed while Drake washed his face on the bathroom and then stretched: he closed the door and Hiro grumbled something.

_Man. And there I was hoping to pick on him from behind and tease his little cock… _

"… Alright. I'm ready, Hiro – kun." Drake told him as he came out while wearing his casual clothes.

"Good. Let's have something for breakfast and run out before Fatman comes devour it all."

"That wasn't original."

Hiro grinned while Drake looked skeptical…

07:54 AM (Japan Time)…

"… The situation is like this: the whole "ice cage" thing is another of Tabuu's modified "Dimensional Areas". Hence why no-one can get inside of the building… We should get inside with" Cross Fusion" and find out the source of this. They most likely will be some "Dimensional Converters" inside of the perimeter. We should try to salvage one of them for study: it may lead to Tabuu's current whereabouts. Am I clear enough?"

"Roger!"

Commissioner Kifune was announcing the situation using live footage from TV helicopters: the institute building and its immediate perimeter were surrounded by a perfect shiny dome of ice.

"Regarding the street ice… That's materialized data. This is why it can withstand the outside temperature of twelve degrees Celsius in November." Commissioner Kifune added.

"How many of us should go in?" Enzan asked.

"I think that a main team consisting of Netto – kun and Hiro – kun would do fine: both know the layout of the buildings well enough. Just in case, though, Enzan – kun and Mr. Dark Miyabi would come in as the backup team." Commissioner Kifune replied.

"Dark Miyabi, you say?"

"That's me."

Dark Miyabi, Shadow Man's Operator, came in and calmly sat down on a chair while looking calm: Shadow Man projected out of the Link PET and got into his "ready" pose: Blues directed a glare at him for a second before looking elsewhere.

"Leave it to Shadow Man to slice those foul Viruses."

"It's settled, then! Net Saviors! Move out!"

"Roger! Let's go, guys! The FOXHOUND Unit is on the move!"

Hiro ran out laughing while the others didn't find the joke funny…

08:14 AM (Japan Time)…

"… The whole interior seems frozen, but it's just more materialized data. Once this "ice cage" is gone then it'll be back to normal with no consequences whatsoever to the materiel."

"That's good to hear."

"CF" Netto and "CF" Hiro were inspecting the insides of their frozen institute: all of the furniture was blocked out by the fake ice as well as many of the doors and windows yet some had been shattered to make a way through: they both had their Busters drawn out.

"It surprised me, though, to see that video in which the Z – Militia guys had to fend off against a ripped off General Grievous. I'm glad not to have been in their place: the freak would've made pieces outta me." "CF" Hiro told "CF" Netto.

"Sure thing…"

"Tabuu is getting obsessed with rip-offs…" Delta grumbled.

"He's so unoriginal." Rock Man complained.

"Let's check the basement." "CF" Hiro suggested.

"Alright. Maybe there's something there."

They both descended into the basement storage rooms and soon found two of the "Dimensional Converters" which were "frozen" as well so as to make recognition hard: one storage room's door nearby was open and something was breathing inside of it.

"What's that sound?" "CF" Netto wondered.

"Could be bait…" Rock Man warned.

"Could be a trap…" Delta warned next.

"Trap or not we gotta check it out!"

"Puku! Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Puku! Ya fell into my trap: Bubble Man – sama's trap, puku!"

"Bubble Man? What's he doing here?"

"Dunno. Maybe Tabuu brought him along."

"Well… The guy's data structure is somewhat different of the WWW Net Navis, so I think this guy's a copy. Tabuu must find the original one to be amusing enough so he doesn't want us to delete him..." Rock Man reported.

"Yeah. That's how it looks."

"De puku! Shaddup, puku! Bubble Man – sama is in charge, puku! Bow to me, puku!"

"You know what? Let's fire him." "CF" Netto grumbled.

"That dialect is starting to irritate me." "CF" Hiro groaned.

"Puku! I won't let you! Aqua Shoot!"

He shot the harpoon on his gun but both Net Saviors used their jets to hover above the ice and easily maneuver.

"Puku! That wasn't in the script, puku!" Bubble Man protested.

"Your script sucks." "CF" Hiro shot back.

"And we're here to redo it." "CF" Netto added.

"Puku! Shut up, puku! Aqua Shoot!"

"Elec Sword!"

"Elec Sword!"

Both Net Saviors hit the "frozen" ground and the electricity discharge electrocuted their opponent thus making him shriek before exploding into a thousand bits.

"Mountain Spear!" A voice rang out.

Some metallic spears appeared out of nowhere and catching both Cross Fusion fighters unaware: they propelled them into the walls thus making them get stuck there before Freeze Man descended from the ceiling.

"Freeze Man! We'd already beaten this guy back when Corruption revived him!" "CF" Netto cursed.

"Wasn't the dude who caused all of those nature control systems to fail one after the other?" "CF" Hiro asked.

"Yeah. And he's a pain in the ass, too." "CF" Netto grumbled.

"This is as far as you come, Net Saviors! By the decree of Tabuu – ou – sama, I am going to turn you two into real ice statues!" Freeze Man smugly announced.

"That won't happen, gramps! Giga Battle Chip, Gospel Elec! Slot In!" "CF" Netto announced.

"What!" Freeze Man was shocked.

A copy of "Gospel" (in its original gigantic size) appeared on the room and shot yellow flames at Freeze Man thus making him roar in agony and be deleted: the Mountain Spears vanished and both ran out of the room afterwards.

"So! That Bubble Man idiot was bait for us to fall for so that we'd get confident and then Freeze Man comes to finish the job! Tabuu's gotten serious!" "CF" Netto grumbled.

"Yeah. Let's hurry and find those stupid machines already. I want to get out of this miniature North Pole already." "CF" Hiro rallied while also grumbling.

"Wait! I sense… something."

"Crap. Look there."

"Damn. That's "Freezer", the legendary ice bird Pokémon from _Red & Green_! Lovely, really!"

Indeed: "Freezer" was floating in the air and looking down at them (literally) while beating the wings: it shrieked and shot an "Ice Beam" at them which they barely dodged.

"Eat this! Hell's Burner!"

"Hell's Burner!"

Both attacks hit "Freezer" and damaged him to the point that it collapsed into the ground and was deleted: the remaining "Dimensional Converters" then showed up and both sighed in relief.

"Good! Let's disable the power core of one of them and then we can say bye to this Antartic ice and come to class!" "CF" Hiro rallied.

"Alright! It's Operation De-Freeze Time!" "CF" Netto laughed.

"How original. Coming from you." Delta muttered.

"Yeah. They are too alike." Rock Man sighed.

"This is Meijin! What's the status, you guys?" Meijin asked them over the radio.

"We've regained control of the school, Meijin – han!" "CF" Netto joked back.

"I ain't from Kansai!"

"Nope! Ya are from Himeji, in Hyougo Prefecture!"

"Wrong…" He groaned in a defeated manner.

"Did ya visit the "convent" in Matsuyama?" "CF" Hiro joked next.

"Huh? I dunno what you mean, Hiro – kun. But if you mean some lame joke then I'm not in the mood for them!" Meijin grumbled.

"Meijin – sama needs some latte coffee!"

"Wrong…"

"Will you stop kidding and get back?" Yuuichirou scolded.

"Yeah, Papa…" "CF" Netto sighed.

"Alright, hakase~…" "CF" Hiro sighed.

"About time." Both Navis muttered.

"Mission successful!" Meijin exclaimed.

10:58 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmmm… From what I can see, it'd seem Tabuu just modified their synchronism mechanisms and the output energy system of this "Dimensional Converter"… Overall, 80% of it works just like any "Dimensional Converter"..."

"I see. Intriguing."

Vadous (posing as a coworker by wearing a lab coat and normal clothes along with blue contacts to hide his true eye color) was examining the captured machine along with Yuuichirou.

"This is the second time he's found ways to modify them. He's going to come up with something else to keep us busy for these remaining ten days until December the 1st. I wouldn't be surprised if he got the idea from hearing to the weather channels." Vadous commented.

"Indeed. And he had the irony of picking Netto and Saito's institute of all ones." Yuuichirou grumbled.

"This is because he wants to call for my attention and make me focus on him: but now that both Blood Shadow and Sigma have finished their monthly maintenances I've assigned them to hunt the Z – Militia. They're more than capable of handling them." Vadous calmly explained.

"Excellent."

"Oi! This black coffee is frozen! Where did you buy it, Ondo?"

"Huh? I didn't buy it, Meijin. The new clerk brought it along."

"New clerk? What's his name?"

"Sigaano Nogaano, I believe…"

"… Damn. And here I got trolled by Tabuu!" Meijin cursed in the background.

"And let's hope he doesn't try to pull the same on us, too."

The scientists sighed in defeat seeing how they got trolled…

11:12 AM (Japan Time)…

"… _Hi, darling_!"

"Wha!"

"Who's that?"

"… I'd stake a thousand curses that I know the author of this message."

"… _Bye, darling_!"

Hiro had been working on something using the classroom's PC during break time: Netto and Saito were also present as Hiro cursed and brought up a window displaying Gufuu.

"That was lame." He told him.

"Why. I thought it was fashionable." Tabuu calmly replied.

"Whaddya want now?" Hiro asked.

"I wanted to thank you for giving me the insight to arrange for today's game, Akashi." Tabuu announced.

"What the…!" Hiro uttered.

"Weren't you wondering how much colder the weather could turn like? It gave me the inspiration to show it to you." Tabuu explained.

"You seem to take everything in a literal manner." Hiro grumbled.

"Maybe I got that from _Mortadelo_." Tabuu sounded like he was shrugging and didn't mind it.

"Yeah. I know who you mean. We've done some research." Hiro admitted, rolling his eyes.

"Is that so? I am glad that you are enlightening yourself, my young man!"

"Get lost in Siberia." Delta told him.

"My. Do you want me to export its weather along the way?"

"NO!" The three of them yelled.

"You fail at teasing. And you fail at hiring competent enough pawns: that Plant Man guy was mental." Saito told him.

"I knew that. But you should be glad I kept tabs on him, right?" Tabuu sounded like he was shrugging.

"Maybe." Netto merely replied.

"Oh! By the way! I'll tell ya one thing: the Royal Armada has reached the port of Andorra." Tabuu announced.

"How can a Royal Armada reach _Andorra_, which is a country lodged half-way between Catalonia and France?" Hiro looked totally skeptical.

"Ask Mortadelo and his attempts to imitate a radio broadcast when he threw his _Danna_'s one out of the window and it broke down. The reason was that the Morrazo F.C. had scored the seventh goal against his favorite team. When the fifth goal was scored, he kicked the TV into the ground from behind. And he ended up smashing the portable TV with an axe once the match ended." Tabuu listed.

"His _Danna_ sure was about to kill him!" Hiro looked horrified.

"He did throw him a gigantic cutting metal while Mortadelo ran away with his deer disguise." Tabuu laughed.

"Scram." Hiro commanded.

"I'm gonna ram into something indeed."

Gufuu vanished from the PET and the group grumbled in clear annoyance at his lame humor.

"I'm starting to be fed up and I'm not the only one."

"Yeah. Welcome to the club." Netto sarcastically told him.

"We need to find a medicine against his headaches."

"Totally. He's gonna drive us crazy!"

The group fumed and resumed working yet their previous good mood had been spoiled by now…


	14. Chapter 14: Target

**Chapter 14: Target**

18:51 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday November the 22nd…

"… Che. They've been inside for half an hour already. I'm not the patient type."

"It can't be helped, can it? The "Committee" discovered that this place had an independent electricity generating system and it's a potential hideout for Tabuu. The only problem is that Enzan and Dark Miyabi's signals don't come out 'cause they seem to be deep underground."

Netto and Hiro were sitting in a stone ledge surrounding a large tree inside of a decaying garden near a cave's entrance: the place was barely lit since the sun was setting beneath the horizon.

"Netto – kun! We're the backup team. We're not supposed to take part unless the main team had any trouble." Rock Man reminded him.

"Hikari – kun can be hard to hold back… Isn't that right, Rock Man?" Delta asked him with a sigh.

"Yep. That's his type: he wants to break all trends." Rock Man rolled his eyes.

"Don't start saying bad things 'bout me in front of my noses if you may, you two." Netto grumbled.

"Cool it down. Remember that we already did that of the institute yesterday." Hiro reminded him.

"Che. And Enzan is gonna say he's doing this "like it should be done" and not in a "leadless and random manner" which is what he called our mission yesterday. The jerk! I'll never let him convince me to go to the _onsen_ again." Netto cursed.

"Yeah, yeah. I know that tune of yours. Now think of something practical, will you?" Hiro rolled his eyes.

"I wanna strangle Tabuu!"

Hiro and the other two Navis nodded in negation while Netto fumed…

18:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hah, hah, hah. Pharaoh Man is going to get rid of such bothersome mice!"

"Hah! Napalm Man – sama is the best! The great me's attacks will sweep the ground with you lowlifes standing on them! Glory to me!"

"You stand no chance against Planet Man…"

"Lovely. Miyabi got knocked out by a trap in the corridors and now it's just me and you against three opponents."

"Yeah, I know."

"CF" Blues and Omega were fighting Pharaoh Man and two new Net Navis inside of a man-made lab-like room devoid of most of its furniture.

"Pharaoh Man has awakened!"

"Eat napalm! Mwa, hah, hah, hah! Burn, burn AND BU~RN! Burn them all!"

"This guy's crazy!"

Napalm Man was a never-before-seen Net Navi whose look was more "machine" than "humanoid" but he could be close to a meter and seventy like Pharaoh Man, too.

His main body was colored purple: it had no nose and mouth but it did have green eyes set on it: a muzzle-like object formed on the forehead: it had a round white base and the muzzle itself was colored orange.

Napalm Man's shoulders were shaped like arches and colored in a pale purple color: they had a thin square drawn towards the lower edge and an orange-colored stripe passing over the arch and heading towards the rear.

His arms' skin was colored black and his forearms were long cylinders which looked like guns: the spot where the elbow and the gun fused had a square white plastic piece while the main body of the gun was tinted purple: the rear end was a greenish circle and the guns' muzzle had a circular orange base and a greenish extension.

There was a gap below the torso around the waist before the lower body began: it had Napalm Man's emblem set into it which consisted on a white edge with a downwards-aiming triangle drawn inside of it: the upward edge was tinted in a purple color with the rest of the triangle was colored orange instead: a ring circled the triangle close to the spike of the triangle as well.

This lower body was colored purple as well: it included an orange-colored piece spanning from the lower edge and continuing beneath the piece: Napalm Man's legs spread from there.

His legs were plain black: their armor began close to the knees: it included a square-shaped white-colored piece of armor past the ankle: the front part of the feet had a pale purple color while the rear part was colored in a black color.

"Planet Man says you gentlemen aren't the "chosen ones" we were waiting for… And, such, you shall be deleted. Death to weaklings."

Planet Man appealed as being around the height of the other Net Navis and his design was rather curious.

His head was a simple spheroid with a round metallic edge and black "skin" but had no nose or mouth yet it did have two eyes and two antennae-like formations coming out of its upper edge.

His main body was a planetoid-like spheroid having two curved white stripes spanning its diameter: three vertical diamond-shaped formations ran down the middle and sides of it: each stripe was composed of three diamonds: the rest of the body was colored blue.

His shoulders were detached from the body and hovering close to it: their design was very similar to that of the face: it had a central white spot and one antenna with three yellow rings: they got smaller as they climbed up.

The forearms were also detached from the main body and were divided in two halves by a black circular stripe: the rear half had a small vertical rectangle set over the stripe, were metallic gray in color and ended in cone-like shapes aiming upwards.

The front half was just the fingers which were colored yellow.

His legs, like the shoulders and forearms, were also detached from the main body as well: they also were divided in two by a black stripe.

The upper half had the rectangle set over the stripe, were metallic gray in color, too, were shaped like domes and a short cylinder sprouted from their upper edges to end as a disc having a small black button on the center of its surface.

The front half was colored yellow and ended in a cone-like shape as well.

Overall, his appearance gave off an eerie vibe.

"Meteor!"

"Napalm Arm!"

"Black Hole!"

"Damn! Plasma Round, Plasma Round!"

"Sonic Boom!"

Pharaoh Man formed some meteors which rained down around both of them: Napalm Man used the guns on his arms to shoot rounds at them and Planet Man summoned a miniature black hole: Omega's plasma round and "CF" Blues' "Sonic Boom" were sucked inside.

"Damn them! Omega! What do we do?"

"We beat these guys before, two years ago! But I almost don't remember anything about what we did… It's been two years, after all!"

"Neglecting adversaries will drive you to pinches, guys." Gufuu taunted them as he hovered over the trio.

"Shadow Blade!"

"What? Shadow Man!"

Shadow Man had suddenly appeared and was attacking Planet Man from behind thus cancelling his "Black Hole" and making it focus on him.

_Chance!_

Omega quickly hit Pharaoh Man with a "Plasma Round" while "CF" Blues dashed forward in a blur and cut off Napalm Man's arms and splitted his waist into half.

"I-impossible! GROA~H!"

"You lowlifes! Pharaoh Cube! Meteor!"

Some yellowish stone cubes with Pharaoh Man's mark painted into them dropped down along with the meteors yet Omega switched to the O – Saber and drove it into Pharaoh Man's forehead: he roared and blew up as well.

"Impossible! How can Shadow Man, a normal Net Navi, materialize just like that? He doesn't have materialization factors!" Gufuu sounded surprised, for once.

"And what if I gave them to him?" Vadous' voice rang out from a rusted speaker.

"What!"

"Mr. Miyabi found a working computer and hooked to it: I then decided it'd be better to give Shadow Man materialization factors than rush sending Blood Shadow and Sigma when they're getting up to date in their training. Serenade gave me a piece of advice on that field." Vadous told him.

"Hmpf! As expected of you, _aibou_!"

"Why, you…!" Planet Man cursed.

"Attack!" Vadous rallied.

"Delta Ray Edge!"

"Shadow Blade!"

"O – Saber!"

"GUWA~H!"

"CF" Blues formed a red triangle which kicked Planet Man into the far wall, Shadow Man hit him several times in a blur and Omega drove the O – Saber into the forehead thus deleting him.

"Phew." Everyone sighed in relief.

"So you can improve out of the blue, too, _aibou_! Interesting! This is going to be funnier than I thought… Heh, heh, heh."

"Who was living here?" "CF" Blues asked.

"Huh? What?"

"There was a _futon_ and canned food in one room!"

"Well… Dunno… I thought this lab had been closed, so…" Gufuu trailed off, unsure.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Omega muttered.

"Get back to the surface! On the double! I'll try to contact those two to see if they've seen anything odd." Vadous grumbled.

"_Nin_! Troublesome plebeians…" Shadow Man muttered.

"Hmmm… For someone to live here… It's no ordinary homeless. It must be someone on the run." Dark Miyabi dully deduced.

"Another reason to get outta here ASAP!" Enzan growled.

"Shit." Blues cursed next.

"I'll take point. Follow me!" Omega instructed.

"You heard Omega. Move it!" Vadous pressed.

They rushed out while Gufuu rubbed his chin and looked worried: he seemed to be doubtful as to what he needed to do.

"I better get out, too. I'll get there before them and I might be able to spot something they can't see."

_I'm afraid Dark Miyabi's not much off the trail, so… This could get ugly if we don't hurry! Shit. I get cocky and this happens! Lesson learnt!_

19:15 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I'm about to run out of patience! They've been down there for fifty minutes already! I wanna know what's going on in there!"

"Cool it down, will ya?"

Netto was having one of his impatience attacks and Hiro was trying to cool him down.

_Heh, heh, heh…_

They didn't realize that, several yards away, a figure was observing them while concealed within a tree's thick foliage while carrying a PSG-1 sniper rifle on its hands and watching through the scope: both Netto and Hiro could be clearly seen while they discussed.

_Isn't the kid with the bandana the one those Z – Militia people want dead for a nice amount of 25,000 credits? This is a golden chance! I'll get rid of the other along the way. I dunno if I'll get extra pay, but I don't care._ The figure made a psychotic grin.

The figure removed the safety and used a very thin and almost invisible laser marker to aim for Netto's left side of the forehead.

_Say hi to Lucifer!_

"… What are you doing?" An angered voice rang out from behind the figure all of sudden.

The figure gasped and looked over its right shoulder: Gufuu was looking at him while having an annoyed face.

_Damn! I dunno who this guy is, but I better shift positions and get rid of it!_

The figure quickly rolled over and aimed the rifle at Gufuu: he shot silenced bullet but it passed through the avatar.

"To begin with: this is a hologram. Second: you must be the guy who has been living here. Third: you were aiming for the Net Saviors. Fourth: no-one is gonna die while I'm around." Tabuu listed in a serious tone of voice while looking rather angered.

"Who are you lowlife?" The figure hissed.

"Need Not To Know. Hah!"

A white column of light formed there and the man disappeared only to reappear in the air next to the tree: he fell to the ground and his rifle got stuck in the branches.

"Damn!" The figure hissed.

He quickly hid behind three and glanced at the Net Saviors: they were still arguing.

"Don't even think of trying anything, whoever you are. I won't let ya do that."

"DIE!" The figure roared as he took out a dagger.

He tried to hit the Gufuu hologram but he failed again and let out a string of curses under its breath.

"Last chance. Hah!"

Gufuu signaled him and the white column of light appeared again only to turn horizontal and propel the man head-on towards the tree, getting knocked out and making the stuck rifle fall down into the ground with a loud CLACK sound thus attracting the attention of the Net Saviors.

"What was that?"

"Let's check it out!"

"Don't worry."

"Tabuu! What was that?"

Hiro and Netto looked over there but Gufuu appeared before them while looking calm and collected.

"The guy who was hiding here, an assassin…"

"What!"

"I knocked the guy out."

"He was sent by the Z – Militia?" Rock Man asked.

"No. He happened to be hiding here and was using the tree as spot from which to target practice. I called the police and they're on their way here to pick the guy up." He replied.

"And what did you do to Enzan and the others?" Hiro asked.

"They're on their way here after an intriguing battle which turned out into their favor thanks to _aibou_'s bright ideas…" He chuckled.

"Hum. We'll soon see what this means." Delta sounded wary.

"Well then… I'll be going. _Bye, darling_!"

He giggled and disappeared just as the trio came out from inside of the cave while looking tired.

"What happened?" Netto asked.

"A trio of high-powered Net Navis…! Pharaoh Man included…! Were it not for Mr. Vadous' program to allow Shadow Man to materialize in the real world we'd be dead." Enzan groaned.

"Like he said…" Omega grumbled.

"So? Did you find the guy who…?" Miyabi asked.

"Yeah. Tabuu knocked the guy out and the police will pick him up: some kind of sniper assassin on the run…"

"Mejetono, then. I'd heard of the guy. You were fortunate. His list sums up 38 corpses over 8 years." Miyabi coolly told them.

Everyone felt a shiver go down their spines and lost some color to their faces at the mention while Miyabi remained unfazen.

"Well… Let's go back, shall we?" Enzan tried to change the mood.

"Y-yeah. I don't wanna come back here." Delta muttered.

"I'll secure the man." Miyabi announced.

"Sounds like a male Sniper Wolf, even…" Hiro muttered.

20:09 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Damn! It's these two!"

"We thought we'd ditched them!"

"Wrong."

"COME AT FULL POWER!"

"Blood Shadow won't be shaken off so easily."

Blood Shadow, on the other hand, looked about the same height as Rock Man or Delta: his main color of choice was red.

He sported black shades: a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.

His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.

His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.

"And Sigma – sama won't, either!"

Sigma was about two meters tall and colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area.

His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head and added a "demonic" look to him.

His spheroid seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.

Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand which was easily over a meter tall.

Overall, he seemed to be tall and imposing.

"Damn them!"

"Charged shotgun shot!"

"Demon Fire!"

"Uck! Moon Meteors!"

"Grah! Sun Meteors!"

Blood Shadow loaded his shotgun and shot a blast at close-quarters which hit Moonlight and forced her to recoil while Sigma's eyes shone red and two lasers set the ground around Sunlight on fire: they both tried to counter but Sigma used his gigantic sword to bounce the meteors.

"Damn! Let's use the secret technique!"

"Roger, _ane – ue_!"

"Huh? Secret technique?"

"Sounds bad…"

Both Navis' bodies started to shine with a pale grey aura as they began to focus energy and then shot a red and blue beam towards each other tus making them merge.

"Twilight Destruction!" Both announced.

Their beams had combined into a golden sphere of energy which they threw towards Blood and Sigma at the same time they logged out: the sphere hit the ground and provoked a brutal explosion which pushed Sigma and Blood back despite having their Dream Auras active.

"Ugra~h!"

Both were ultimately sent flying and they crashed in a hard way into the ground before they managed to stand up and gasped: a gigantic patch of the Network had been annihilated and was impossible to cross.

"Damn! What destructive power!" Sigma cursed.

"I guess we've underestimated them, even! Shit. This is turning awry!"


	15. Chapter 15: Vintage

**Chapter 15: Vintage**

19:08 PM (Japan Time), Thursday November the 23rd…

"… I wonder why Papa told us to come to this presentation of the Science Labs' new security programs…"

"Maybe he wants us to get used to the fact that sometimes we need to see how society works like…"

Netto and Saito were standing in a corner of a wooden-built-hall filled with people while still wearing their middle school uniforms: a table with some snacks and glasses of water was set close to them, too.

"I didn't expect us getting invited, too." Hiro admitted as he walked towards them.

"Yep. But I don't complain. There are a lot of aperitifs to enjoy over 'ere, ya see." Drake smiled.

"I knew ya were somewhat of a glutton, Drake." Netto teased.

"… Is that so? I think you and Hiro – kun were the gluttons." Drake calmly replied while lifting an eyebrow.

"It's obvious that I'd be coming." Tomono grinned.

"How are you doing like, Noa – kun?" Saito asked.

"I'm pretty well." Tomono calmly replied.

"We're busting ugly Viruses!" Rafael laughed.

"Excuse me, gentlemen…" A voice called out.

A slightly familiar man wearing a black suit, tie and brown shoes along with a black hat having a brown stripe (thus hiding most of his face) walked over to them.

"Have you seen my vintage CD around this place?" He asked of them in a polite manner.

"Eh… No. We haven't, sir…" Saito admitted.

"Ah. Then I should go ask Jeremy about it… I am sorry to have bothered you, gentlemen. Beware of the sovereign."

"… Jeremy… The sovereign… Haven't we heard those things before?"

"I'm sure of it! And I'd stake anything that that dude has something to do with Tabuu!" Saito affirmed.

"Let's be discrete and try to follow him." Hiro suggested in a hushed tone.

Everyone nodded in agreement and picked different directions to try to surround the mysterious man: they managed to do so in a discrete manner and the man looked amused.

"Why. You're quick to catch up, it'd seem." The man congratulated them in an amused tone.

"Tabuu: we know it's you. Drop the act." Drake told him.

"Surprised? This is my look as Sigaano Nogaano!"

He lifted up his sight to reveal how his eyes were covered by smoked sunglasses and his face had not a single trace of facial hair on it: a smile was drawn across it.

"So that's how you move around. You look so vulgar that no – one directs a second glare at you." Netto folded his arms.

"And that's your look under the armor?"

"Approximately. I had to edit my skin color. A blue-skinned human would bring too much attention. And my eyes are just cavities so I cover them up yet I could edit them to look more normal…" He grinned.

"You're pretty humanoid for an alien." Rafael told him.

"Ironic, ain't it? Hollywood making up films about humanoid aliens and I turn out to prove it. Yet… May I recall your attention to the fact that the Earl of Adventure is advertising his new film?"

"Whoa! The Earl of Adventure?"

"Who's that?"

Everyone automatically looked over there but they didn't spot anyone who stood out in any manner and when they turned to look at Tabuu's real form, he was gone.

"Crap! He ditched us." Drake grumbled.

"I dunno how he manages but he always manages to pull this trick on all of us!" Saito sighed in defeat.

"At least he wasn't seeking to start a ruckus." Tomono commented.

"But he won't be inactive in the eight days left before his so-called "deadline"…" Hiro grumbled.

"Who was that man who walked out in a rush?" Vadous (dressed in his business suit and using his blue contacts) asked as he walked over to them while looking surprised.

"Sigaano Nogaano."

"Hmpf. So he had the guts to show his ugly hide around… And now we know how he can do things like smuggling iced coffee into the Science Labs…"

"Iced coffee?" Tomono asked.

"Yeah. He switched Mr. Meijin's hot one for iced coffe the day of the institute freeze-over as if to remind us the topic of the day. He appears and disappears by posing as "new clerk", "new secretary" and similar roles…" He explained as he sipped some water.

"Eh… Excuse me, but…" Tomono called out.

"Oh? Ah. You're Tomono Noa – kun… Your father is Tomono – hakase, is he not?" Vadous asked.

"Eh… That's correct, Zataki – san. We had not met before."

"Please remember to address me by my civilian name if there is public around." Vadous requested of Tomono and Rafael.

"Roger, Mister." Rafael confirmed.

"I'll go check that there's nothing out of place around here: I wouldn't be surprised if Tabuu pulled something on us while we're on the middle of the conference."

The speakers turned on and someone cleared his throat.

"Attention to all attendants: they are going to dynamite this building in short. Please evacuate in a calm and ordered manner." A familiar manly voice calmly announced.

"No way!"

"The radicals strike back!"

"The Z – Militia!"

"Run!"

"A~h!"

"Run for it!"

"Wait for me!"

"Calm down!"

A total chaos ensued and the teens did what they could to remain close to each other and not be lost amongst the fleeing crowd: they spotted Enzan, who'd been talking with Meijin, rushing towards them.

"That of the dynamite is one of Ibañez's jokes! He meant to say that they were gonna bring in a dynamo!" Enzan explained in a few words.

"I can prophesize something: someone is gonna lose their _life_ in a silly accident." Tabuu's voice rang out through the speakers.

"That's another joke: he means a book titled _life_!" Enzan warned.

"Why! Ijuuin! You're ruining the fun of it!" Tabuu sounded slightly offended.

"Huff! Luckily, I brought Omega with me for this kind of emergency... Plug In! Omega, Transmission!"

Omega plugged into the speaker control console's Cyber World and found Gufuu standing in there.

"Show your ugly hide." Omega challenged.

"I'll show you a useful pawn instead." Tabuu calmly shot back.

The ground was suddenly filled with sand and a shape suddenly emerged from within it.

"Meet Desert Man."

"Desert Man… Another would-be WWW Net Navi and one of the "Secret Army" Net Navis of one year ago…!" Netto muttered.

"I'm off to scare the skin outta Inspector Wallander. Bye-bye." Gufuu elegantly announced with a reverence.

"Lion Head!"

"Crap."

Omega quickly double-jumped into the air and aimed his O – Buster at Desert Man's forehead: he shot one plasma shot there and Desert Man recoiled, taken aback.

"Why, you…!"

"Give it up."

"Neon Light!"

"Damn."

"Hah! Flash Man – sama will take this punk out!"

"Flash Man too! No fair!" Omega growled.

"Die! Neon Light! Neon Light! Neon Light!"

"Great Lion Head!"

"Don't worry, uncle Omega! I've come to help! Eat this! Ice Guns!"

"What!"

"Good!"

Rafael plugged in and shot two continuous frigid beams at Flash Man thus freezing his arms and legs: Omega then jumped over the "Great Lion Head" and tried to hit Desert Man yet when he did so he turned into sand and crumbled only to re-emerge two meters at the rear.

"I am invincible!" He proclaimed.

"Rafael! I need a terrain-affecting Battle Chip!"

"Roger! Battle Chip, Ice Seed! Slot In!"

"Wha~t?" Desert Man gased.

"_Game Over, Lucy_!" Omega formed a smug smile.

The Ice Seed froze the whole ground and Rafael quickly ignited his boosters as Omega's O – Saber began to frizzle with electricity and he aimed it downwards while placing his feet soils on the two lower edges of the blade to drive it deeper into the ground: the intense electrical current overwhelmed Desert Man and deleted him but Flash Man began to build it up on his body and broke free while laughing.

"You fool! Spark Palm!"

He built up energy on his palm and tried to hit Rafael but a _chibi_ doll showed up on his place and four _shuriken_ fell down thus getting stuck on the back of his body: he groaned and collapsed into the ground due to their weight.

"_Kawarimi_, ya see~!" Rafael taunted.

"You lowlife! Neon Light!"

"That won't reach me, ya know. Hey! Noa – kun! Let's bring out Guts Man's power!"

"Roger! Battle Chip, Guts Man V3! Slot In!"

"GATTSU~!"

"Whack! Damn!"

Guts Man formed on the field and used his trademark "Guts Hammer" attack to momentarily stun Flash Man: Omega suddenly moved around in a blur and sliced him in three pieces: Flash Man roared and was deleted so both cancelled their weapons and landed back on the ground.

"Phew. Saved. I owe ya one."

"Don't mind it, uncle~! I wanted to have a piece of the action, too. Bring it on, twerps!" Rafael grinned as he played with his guns by tossing them around and catching them back.

"Major Ocelot's _Sharo Roulette_, eh?" Hiro grinned.

"Obviously~!" He laughed.

"In the end the conference about the new security software ended before it began…" Yuuichirou sighed.

"At least no – one got hurt." Vadous reminded him.

"Hey! Who swapped my water for tomato juice?" Meijin protested as he looked at a plastic cup.

"What? He snuck back inside?" Vadous gasped.

"Had to. I left my water there barely two minutes ago."

"Yeah. I saw it." Gate Man confirmed.

"Björk says you're fired, _aibou_." His voice echoed inside of the room.

"Ain't that a Sweedish name?" He frowned.

"Rydberg offers you a piece of advice: don't trust first impressions. Look at everything twice."

"Isn't that what I always do to begin with? You're bringing up a rather moot point, you know."

"Ystad is overwhelmed: better call Malmö and Stockholm for some reinforcements."

"Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, yeah, but…"

"_The Smiling Man _is coming for you~!"

"The smiling man…?" Meijin frowned.

"_The Fifth Woman _is going to make your blood chill out and there's gonna be a tragedy~!" He made up a rhyme.

"The fifth woman now?" Netto grumbled.

"They sound like novels' titles." Saito ventured.

"_The Dogs of Riga_ is going to make you feel the tension. Maybe the "Committee" got inspired from there?"

"Riga? Latvia's capital city…?" Drake wondered.

"_Faceless Killers_ is the very beginning! A cold morning at the start of 1990… All sets off from there! Introducing Inspector Kurt Wallander from Ystad and his team!" He announced.

"Inspector Kurt Wallander…?" Yuuichirou looked curious.

"_The White Lioness_ is a good _thriller_ which will make you realize there is a force behind each complot! But I don't mean the "CP" either." He teased with a giggle.

"Stop quoting stuff: show your hide!"

"Hey! My _sushi_ got replaced by rice cookies!" Meijin suddenly exclaimed from behind them.

"Again?" Vadous turned around to look at Meijin.

"But… It was so fast! He left the _sushi _there barely two minutes ago and it's been switched out! I can't believe it, man! This is wizardry or something like that!" Gate Man sounded baffled.

"Don't take your eyes off it, then." He advised.

"Yeah. I really shouldn't."

"Enjoying my food roulette, Meijin – chan?"

"Drop the "chan"…" He groaned.

"Drop the chin – chan – chen – chun – chon!"

"What the hell is that?" Saito questioned.

"Random Man made it up two minutes 55 seconds ago."

"Please…" He looked skeptical.

"By all the… This guy is really a sorcerer! I was looking at it the whole time but now the rice cookies have become a bowl of peanuts!"

"No way…" Even Vadous looked baffled.

"Heh, heh, heh. Quick Man showed up."

"Quick Man got deleted over two years ago!" Netto protested.

"Hayami Daisuke and his IQ of 170 were no rivals, true."

"No need to bring that up!" Saito grumbled.

"Wait! Maybe he's just playing with light refraction: he hides something and unveils something else to make us think he's moving around the room…!" Tomono suggested.

"Ah… A magician whose tricks were found out by the audience… Such a shame, really. Well then… Congrats, Tomono. I'll grant you a Contest Badge. Which rank did you sign in for?" He firstly sighed but then came up with some sarcastic clapping.

"Sod off." Tomono grumbled.

"Soda Rank? Well then, I'll go tell Patent Man to patent Soda Man. See you around and beware of flying coffee cups."

The usual giggle rang out and the speakers finally died: Vadous had found a device which seemed to alter the refraction of light hidden amongst a pot of flowers so he grumbled under his breath.

_Tabuu… This is between you and ME!_

"Let's go back home. The party got busted, anyway."

"Sheesh. Will that guy ever learn? What a guy! Heck!" Saito fumed.

"Attention! Mecha Gojira V3 is recruiting pilots. Drop by the Secret Mecha Gojira Project office in the Jousanjo-machi intersection in Nara City, close to Isagawa Shrine. The _King of Dumplings_ is eager to welcome you."

"_King of Dumplings_? That's a popular and successful chain of Chinese food restaurants. You always at least once in big and medium cities: gotta admit that their fried rice is exquisite, though…" Meijin began to mutter while rubbing his chin.

"Yummy." Netto looked animated.

"Too yummy. Dumplings. I love 'em!" Hiro grinned.

"You two gluttons…" Yuuichirou sighed.

"Papa!"

"Hakase!"

"I'm afraid that Hikari – hakase is right on that. Hiro – kun."

"Oh come on! Mr. Zataki!" Hiro groaned.

"You got it coming." Delta sighed.

"Now, now." Tomono tried to calm them down.

"CoCo Ichibanya Curry House says that Maha Ichiban can never come close to competing with them."

"It's not like they'll try to compete with such a large successful chain of curry houses, anyway." Vadous drily muttered.

"Attention, please. Higure – sama has made a pact with the Demon Prince: to earn Rare Battle Chips in exchange of making up crazy rhymes. Here's one: my sin is a fish. _Mi pecado es un pescado_!" Tabuu giggled.

"How stupid." Omega groaned.

"It'd seem my newest programming is taking effect. Good. If I keep it up then I'll be able to fully install a new, serious personality."

"Tabuu… He's not gonna give it up? Sheesh."


	16. Chapter 16: Burning passion

**Chapter 16: Burning passion**

07:44 AM (Japan Time), Friday November the 24th…

"… Hmmm…"

"What is your opinion of it, Dark Miyabi – sama?"

Dark Miyabi was inspecting a burnt warehouse and looked thoughtful while Shadow Man had asked for his opinion regarding the incident and its result.

"I smell Tabuu's hands behind this: he must've let this in the hands of another of his pawns." Miyabi sentenced.

"Obviously."

"The only problem will be guessing where he's going to strike next. This night's incidents have been nation-wide. There's no knowing where in Japan he plans on striking next." Miyabi grumbled.

"Maybe he plans in involving Rock Man's Operator or his companions, Dark Miyabi - sama." Shadow Man suggested.

"Then we should limit our search to Densan City or Akihara Town. Let us go. Time is a must." Miyabi announced.

"Invent Time Man."

Dark Miyabi whipped around and drew a _kunai_ which he aimed at Sigaano Nogaano as he stood there, dressed just like the previous evening: he had both hands in the pockets and his sight lowered yet a smile was drawn across his face: he'd also put on a gray trench-coat over the black suit.

"Sigaano Nogaano." Dark Miyabi hissed.

"Ops. Inspector Wallender is coming to arrest me. Later."

"Huh? Inspector Wallander?"

Dark Miyabi turned around to look but when he tried to face Sigaano again the guy had vanished into thin air: he growled and brandished the _kunai_ in a menacing manner…

11:04 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Did you hear the news? It must be some pyromaniac! There's no doubt about it!"

Meiru had gotten a hold of the news and was talking them with Tomono during break time inside of their classroom.

"… Hmmm… Something tells me another of Tabuu's pawns is behind it, even." Tomono replied.

"Congratulations, Great Detective Tomono – sama!" A totally sarcastic voice rang out.

They both gasped and spotted Gufuu standing behind the teacher's desk and making a sarcastic reverence.

"Cha were behind, weren't cha!" Meiru told him.

"Indeed! May I recall your attention to the fact that there's a very appropriate about-to-be-torn-down building two blocks from here? Tell Hikari Jr. or his pals to drop by after the institute: my new pawn is eager to have a burning battle!" Tabuu announced.

"And if we don't show up, that building is gonna get burnt, too?" Rafael asked.

"Wasn't it obvious?"

"You're horrible!" Roll told him.

"Thanks for the compliment, missy." Tabuu gallantly replied with obvious sarcasm.

"That wasn't supposed to be a compliment, ya know!" Roll scolded.

"I'm just being sarcastic, missy… Besides! That temper easily ruins your make-up." Tabuu replied.

"Ah! My make-up…! Wait a min! Navis don't use make-up!" Roll gasped.

However, Gufuu had already fled and the four of them (the Navis being inside the PCs) grumbled in clear annoyance.

"Oho! I heard that! You want a new make-up, Meiru?" Dekao suddenly rushed in: he was rubbing his hands and grinning.

"Cha are deaf or what? That was a ploy by Tabuu. Now go clean the gym storeroom!" Meiru growled.

"No! I've seen the truth! Noa! You've hurt her, haven't ya?"

"No! It was on the contrary!" Tomono protested.

"Like he says! Now move, Fatman! Or I'll bring the home room teacher to drag you there!" Meiru stood up and signaled him with her right hand's index finger in a threatening manner.

Dekao ran off at the mention of "home room teacher" and the four of them sighed in relief: Netto and Saito came back in while looking slightly surprised.

"Was that Dekao?" Netto asked.

"Yeah! Fatman." She grumbled.

"What did he try to do?" Saito lifted an eyebrow.

"The usual! Try to make me look like a victim again! I threatened to bring the home room teacher to make him flee!"

"Good idea." Hiro grinned as he came in.

"Hah! That Fatman will fall into disgrace sooner or later!" Yaito grinned as she came in.

"He can be so annoying, really." Hikawa complained.

"Oh! And Gufuu claims he's gonna send a pawn to burn the old warehouse in Akihara Town too so you better go there after class." Tomono told them as he recalled.

"Wants a showdown, huh? We'll give 'im one!" Netto grinned.

"Don't get cocky, Netto – kun." Saito sighed.

Netto merely grinned while Saito rolled his eyes…

17:33 PM (Japan Time)…

"… This is the place. And the Navi must show up inside of the control console."

"Then let's get inside and bust 'im."

Netto had come into the building along with Rock Man and had found a control console.

"Okay! Plug In! Rock Man EXE, Transmission!"

Rock Man entered the control console's Cyber World and quickly spotted a figure behind the firewall: a hole was made into the firewall and the figure stepped in.

"Who are ya?" Rock Man questioned.

"Hah! I'm Flame Man! I'm here to turn you into cinders along with this building!" The Navi replied.

"Flame Man? That would've been Hinoken's new Net Navi, perhaps…"

"I dunno. But we gotta stop him." Rock Man replied.

"Hah! I am invincible! Chaos Flame!"

"Hmpf. And what if? Everyone says the same! Go, Rock Man! Battle Chip, Aqua Sword! Slot In! Slice him in one slash!"

Flame Man shot some flames at Rock Man while the flames around his body shone green: two nearby candles began to shine with green flames as well.

"Aqua Sword!"

"Hah."

Rock Man's Aqua Sword hit the flames yet some kind of force repelled him and he had to jump away to avoid being bathed in flames expelled by Flame Man's own breath.

"Weird!" Netto muttered.

"Hum! He keeps on changing the colors of his flames along with the candles… I get it! We gotta put out the candles." Rock Man realized.

"Fire Breath!"

Rock Man barely dodged and found a wall of impassable flames in front of him.

"Hah! You can't hit my candles like this!" Flame Man boasted.

"He may not be able to. But I can." A voice corrected.

"Who the hell!" Flame Man scowled.

Shadow Man appeared and quickly sliced both candles in half with his _katana_ before warping to another location.

"If there's one thing I don't like it's those lowlifes who hide their weaknesses with petty tricks." Shadow Man announced by popping out in a corner of the Cyber World.

"That's my style, too." Rock Man announced.

"You lowlifes…! I'll turn both of you lowlifes into mere cinders! Chaos Flame! Fire Breath! BURN!"

Flame Man began to shoot out fire attacks around the area thus heating it up and the real world building's interior began to heat as well because of a malfunction of the central heating system.

"Damn. I'm gonna get roasted at this rate… We gotta finish this quickly or else…! Giga Battle Chip, Aqua Gospel!" Netto cursed before announcing his next move.

"No way!" Flame Man uttered.

"No foe can stand up to the might of the Gospel Chips!" Rock Man put up a smug smile.

"Do it." Shadow Man calmly commented.

"Gospel" appeared on the Field and shot a stream of blue-colored flames at his enemy thus making him roar in agony as he was being deleted.

"IMPOSSIBLE~! TABUU – SAMA~!"

Some crates behind Netto suddenly exploded due to heat because they stored explosive materiel: a fire formed on the building and a fragment of one box hit the back of Netto's head knocking him out.

"Uack…!"

He collapsed on top of the console but did manage to press the logout button before being hit.

"Netto – kun! What's wrong? Answer me! Please!" Rock Man gasped and sounded terrified.

"What's wrong?" Shadow Man sounded nervous.

"Something exploded in the real world and it's knocked Netto – kun out cold! Where's your Operator?" Rock Man explained before asking of Shadow Man.

"Huh… In the outside." Shadow Man quickly replied.

"Tell him to come in!" Rock Man urged.

"I'm on my way!" Dark Miyabi replied.

He quickly used a rope with a hook at the end to shatter the second floor's windows to get inside: he recoiled for a second because of the intense heat wave.

"Damn. I gotta hurry." He muttered.

He jumped into the lower level and found Netto's unconscious body there: he loaded him into his back and quickly ran up the metal stairs before the flames covered the whole of the floor.

"Too close."

Miyabi quickly came out the same way he got in and retrieved the rope before rushing away from the building: he heard the sound of sirens and sat down on one bench nearby, panting, and sat Netto down next to him before he examined the wound: it was very superficial.

"Thanks goodness! I owe you a lot, Miyabi – san…" Rock Man sounded relieved.

"Don't mind it."

"I'd say we bring him to the hospital to be on the safe side." Shadow Man suggested.

"I'm gonna ring Papa and Mama…" Rock Man announced.

"Need a hand?"

Hiro and Drake rushed over there and gasped upon seeing the scene but Miyabi signaled that there was no need to fret.

"What happened?" Drake asked.

"Something blew up because of the heat and it hit Netto – kun from behind… Could you bring me home so that I can use my prototype Copy Roid to materialize?" Rock Man requested.

"Leave it to me. Hiro – kun, go with him to the hospital."

"Roger, Admiral Drake." He grinned.

"This ain't the moment to joke." Drake drily replied.

"It's the moment to call Mecha Gojira V3!"

"Not with the Mecha Gojira V3 joke…"

"Beware, Drake! A usurper king will visit you at midnight!" Hiro tried to sound scary.

"If you mean Zant from _Twilight Princess_… I'll send him back with some shots and tell him to go dance at Broadway."

"Heh, heh, heh! The Zanty Mad Dance! Sponsored by Akashi – sama over here and there and over nowhere!"

"Be quiet." Dark Miyabi dully ordered.

Hiro grumbled under his breath, Drake shrugged and Rock Man rolled his eyes out of exasperation…

18:17 PM (Japan Time)…

"Ouch… What a blow…"

Netto slowly regained consciousness and felt a slight aching sensation on the back of his head: he blinked several times and realized that he was in a hospital bed and had an oxygen mask on plus having been changed into hospital pajamas, too.

"Netto – kun! You're alright! Thanks goodness!" Saito suddenly loomed over him and looked relieved.

"What happened?" Netto asked.

"The heat provoked by Flame Man made some chemical products inside of wooden boxes blow up, and a piece hit you on the back of the head. It was very superficial, though. We just brought you here to be on the safe side, you see." Saito explained.

"But we did beat that guy, right?" Netto asked.

"Yeah. But I'm sure the explosion wasn't on the script."

"Yeah. Somehow, I don't find it strange." Netto agreed on it.

"Papa and Mama came to see you, but since they saw that you were alright, they headed back. I stayed 'cause you know me: I can't bear waiting at home in such times." Saito told him.

"Yeah. I know that. Thanks for coming." Netto smiled.

"May I recall your attention to the fact that _One Step Behind_ is also a good mystery thriller?" A familiar voice rang out.

"Gufuu." Saito merely lifted an eyebrow as he looked at his own Link PET's screen.

"8 days left, gentlemen."

"We knew that. We can count."

"Maybe _Firewall_ will be better suited given your background, Hikari Sr.? It includes a lot of computers stuff."

"Dunno."

"Or maybe you'd prefer _Sidetracked_, with a crazy murdered dressing as an Ameroupe Indian?" Gufuu teased.

"Ask Book Man."

"There was a guy who was supposed to be Book Man but ended up being Judge Man instead." He grinned.

"And you helped him break out in the summer." Netto told him.

"Truly."

"What do you want?"

"Give you ideas. Maybe "_Before the frost"_ would make your blood freeze on the spot?" Gufuu suggested next.

"Ask Freeze Man." Saito shot back.

"Truly."

"If you're only here for trolling then go collect lilies at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean." Netto challenged.

"That'll be easier than having to murder 10,000 Net Navis. Oh. Dark Man got past the 9,800 mark. He's drawing closer!"

"Sure, sure." Saito looked unimpressed.

"Maybe you'd like to have a "Chandela" as pet?"

"Chandela? The Ghost – Flame Type Pocket Monster belonging to Generation V? One of the Four Heavenly Kings owned a specimen of it if memory serves…" Saito recalled.

"The thing would set the house on fire. Wait! Are you gonna use one to replace Flame Man or what?"

"No. I planned to turn it into Fire Man's rival, you see. They'd burn everything around them." Gufuu grinned.

"Shoo, shoo." Netto grumbled.

"Alright then. I'll bring you an "Ononokus" instead. The Generation V Dragon Type Pocket Monster… Its "Dragon Pulse" should be enough to give you trouble further on." He suggested next.

"The Dragon – Type Gym Leader Shaga owned one of those… Wouldn't want to have to find a way to beat it if I had to face one…"

"Heh, heh, heh. So! Are you going to play _Pocket Monsters Gray_ once they confirm what they're gonna stuff into it?"

"That's a rumor. There's no official confirmation. While it's true that we've had _Crystal_, _Emerald_ and _Platinum_ that doesn't automatically mean it's gonna be named "Gray"…" Saito shot back.

"Then I won't step into pointless speculation. But… It finally came out yesterday, didn't it? _The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword_! I'm sure Delta is impatiently waiting for someone to upload a play-through!"

"Whoa! True!" Netto realized.

"We gotta check it out!" Saito gasped.

"Yeah! I'd say that the guy on the E3 Demo, the boss of the "Sky-view Temple" is gonna be a major character. What was the name again…?" Netto frowned and trailed off.

"Something with "Gi"…"

"Girahimu. _Mazokuchou_ Girahimu." Gufuu reminded them.

"Oh yeah! It rhymes! His intro was cool and he looked like a hard boss for the first dungeon! And he had a scary vibe to him as well: we need a good villain that makes you feel the tension!"

Gufuu vanished while the two of them continued chatting: Netto's PET beeped and Saito checked it out.

"From Dekao – kun… "I got the Mekka Goshiraa Bii Zree Battle Chip! I'm so gonna beat ya to a pulp!"… It's gotta be a scam by Bubble Man: who else would write "Mecha Gojira V3" like that?" He sighed.

"Dekao… Another guy who doesn't learn the lesson! Man."


	17. Chapter 17: Wilderness

**Chapter 17: Wilderness**

10:10 AM (Japan Time), Saturday November the 25th…

"… And all animals here are monitored via an IC Chip to check that their health is stable. Thus we can always know immediately if symptoms of an illness begin to appear and we can counter them very quickly."

"That's an intelligent system."

Enzan had come with some IPC executives to visit the Yoka Yoka Village Zoo and have a look at their modern installations: one of the staff was explaining to him the fact about the IC Chips and how they monitored the animals' health.

"And there's our elephant, Lucy."

They walked past it and spotted a familiar man holding a pamphlet and looking at four monkeys playing around in a wooden hut plus the surrounding lake: something on Enzan was triggered as the man turned to look at them.

"Do excuse me. Have you seen my vintage CD around here?" He asked in an amused tone.

"Huh… No, sir, we haven't…" Enzan replied.

"Ah. Then it must be on the Emperor's residence. Do excuse me, gentlemen. And do have a wild day by the way." The man gallantly told them.

"Huh… Thank you, sir…"

The man walked away whistling a tune which Enzan recognized as the Beatles' _Let It Be_ song.

"What a weird man…" Blues sounded surprised.

"He's either crazy or part of a humor stunt." Enzan guessed.

"… Something about him rang a bell somewhere." Blues suddenly muttered.

The animals suddenly started to shriek, yell or roar while the cages opened and a stampede occurred: everyone ran for their safety and Enzan headed for the control center.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked one technician.

"A hacker has gotten inside of the computers and taken over the IC Chips! We're also detecting a Navi's signature in the system!" The technician reported.

"Damn! Sigaano Nogaano!" Blues realized.

"Grah! I wasn't expecting him to stage something like this: I thought he'd go for another copycat thing… Can't be helped! Plug In! Blues, Transmission!"

"Out of the way! Hra~h!"

Blues immediately began to slice through the hordes of Viruses and made it until the end of the area where Beast Man was messing around with the control computer.

"You lowlife! Stop right there!" Blues told Beast Man

"Gra~h! Nobody orders Beast Man – sama around! You lowlife!"

"That's my motto." Blues colly countered.

"Wha~t?"

"Out of the way."

"Wild Rush!"

He split his head and forearms from his body and rushed towards Blues: he drew a second Long Sword and kept him at bay: Beast Man growled and returned to his original form.

"Jumping Claw!"

Blues dodged and then took the chance to slice off the right shoulder and the arm: Beast Man roared while Blues assumed a fighting pose in a calm manner.

"Delta Ray Edge!"

The Delta Ray Edge's triangular attack combo sliced Beast Man's body in several pieces and he roared as he was deleted.

"My. That was fast." Gufuu told him with a grin.

"That was boring, even." Blues replied.

"Maybe _he_ will be a better opponent?"

"Who do you mean?"

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah! Well then! Bring it on, Kenobi! Come! Lord Tyrannus himself taught me the arts of you Jedi!"

"What!"

General Grievous dropped down and drew the four light-sabers: he began to spin them around and quickly dispatched Blues' Long Swords: he had to flip backwards to escape his attacks.

"Damn! General Grievous, you say!" Enzan cursed.

"Let's see if you can do better than the Z – Militia, Aragorn – sama! Or should I say… Obi Wan – Kenobi – dono?"

"I ain't Aragorn or Obi Wan – Kenobi!" Blues growled.

"Prove it, Trainer!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

Grievous leapt into the air while still spinning all four light-sabers in a totally synchronized and perfect manner which left no openings to counter-attack.

"Damn. Battle Chip, Neo Variable Sword! Slot In!"

"Sonic Boom!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

"Fuck." Enzan cursed.

The attack bounced off and Blues growled in clear annoyance as he tried to put some distance between him and Grievous: something suddenly moved around in blur and sliced all four light-sabers in half: Grievous stopped, surprised, and four _shuriken_ hit each one of his wrists thus damaging them given their lesser armor.

"Calling on Shadow Man."

Shadow Man appeared next to Blues while holding his _katana_ out and Grievous laughed as he took the _shuriken_ out and held the four blasters instead.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

"Good! Blues!"

"Delta Ray Edge!"

"Program Advance. Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword. Slot In. Dream Sword." Dark Miyabi calmly announced.

"Dream Sword!"

Blues' attack made quick work of the blasters and the Dream Sword impacted upon his chest thus propelling him backwards: Blues wasted not a second and took profit of the weakened state of the core armor to force and opening and stab the nucleus thus deleting him.

"My, my. So our _Ninja_ Man wants a piece of action too. This will be interesting to see. Maybe you could try to test the _Dark Trinity_ and see if they're worth as G – Chis' bodyguards?" Gufuu grinned.

"Whatever."

"I guess a "Sazandora" will come and strike at you guys by 3:33 PM on your way to Paddington." He giggled.

"Another Pocket Monster?" Enzan questioned.

"True. Generation V. Evil – Dragon Type." He told them.

"Bring it on!" Blues challenged.

"No, no. You've had enough, I can see that. And my other show is waiting for me, so… Oh my! Welcome back, Ann – Britt Höglund!" Gufuu smiled at someone behind them.

"Who?"

The two Navis turned around to look but saw no – one: when they looked ahead of them again Gufuu had ditched them.

"Damn the guy!" Blues growled.

"Hmpf. Plebeian…" Shadow Man muttered.

"By the way. I still don't trust you lowlife."

"Fine. Wasn't expecting you to." Shadow Man shrugged.

"Got a complaint? Speak with Zataki." Dark Miyabi dully challenged.

"I'm so gonna do that." Enzan grumbled back.

"What's the matter now?" Forte rushed in.

"I don't trust this rascal." Blues grumbled.

"Sheesh. You're just dancing to Tabuu's flute, you know!"

"Grawl."

"What? Oh shit. I apologize, Enzan – sama."

"My Master. I lowered the guard."

"Bah. No consequence. Come back, Shadow Man. Time to go hunt more rubbish…"

"Plug Out, Blues. Let's try to resume the tour and move into the negotiations before my mood worsens."

"Fine. Junior! Let's go to Internet City. Tabuu might make his next move there and I wanna tell the guy one or two things!"

"Grawwwlll!"

"Get ready, Tabuu!"

11:08 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Grrr…"

"What's up with you now?"

"Grawl! Grrr!"

"What? Something's coming…? Whoa!"

"An earthquake!"

"Run!"

"Wait for me!"

"Escape!"

"Plug Out!"

Forte had been walking around Internet City with "Gospel Jr." when an earthquake began to form in the area given the cracks in the ground and how some buildings collapsed upon their foundations: Forte ran into the Higureya building and looked out into the street.

"Ah! This is where I show my courage! I'm gonna stay here and defend Higureya! I'll teach those amateurs how you do it!" Number Man exclaimed.

"If I were you I'd run for my bucks, de masu!" Higure uttered via the Link PET.

"Oh please! Leave everything to me, Higure - san!" Number Man merely relied.

"Grrr…"

"Close by… There!"

Forte ran out and dove into a crack to hit a figure with his Hell's Buster: the figure jumped out into the surface along with Forte and faced each other in the middle of the street.

"Che! Who dares to stop Drill Man – sama?"

"Hmpf! Your worst nightmare does dare to stop you lowlife." Forte icily replied.

"Damn! Drill! What in the! You're THE Forte! You weren't part of Tabuu – sama's instructions!" Drill Man cursed.

"Of course not. But you're going down."

"Tunnel Crusher!"

Drill Man's body compacted into a two-end drill yet his arms and central body stuck out of the form: he dove into the ground and Forte cursed as he tried to predict where he would come out from: he suddenly appeared directly beneath Forte and shot upwards.

"Guah!"

"Hah!"

Forte fell into the ground and growled as he stood up and spotted Drill Man heading towards him from the sky.

"Triple Drill!"

Another two drills formed at his sides and they all headed for Forte yet he whistled and "Gospel Jr." ran to his side: he used him to leap into the air and drew both Dark Arm Blades which he plunged into the unprotected section of Drill Man's body: he stopped in mid-air and reverted out of his armored form.

"YOU LOWLIFE~!"

"Gotcha. Darkness Overload!"

"NO WAY~!"

The blast hit him fully and he was deleted amongst cries of agony: a giggle rang out and Forte spotted Gufuu _and_ "Mewtwo" standing in the rooftop of a nearby building.

"Isn't that Mewtwo from the Generation I games, _Red & Green_?"

"Grawl?"

"Yessir. By the way! Wouldn't you know? I hacked myself into _Black & White_! As an "Esper" Pocket Monster at Level 70… Techniques are as follow: Cosmo Sword, Normal Type Attack. Cosmo Beam, Esper Type Attack. Strings of Fate, Esper Type Attack. And Apocalypse Now, Esper Type Attack! Heh! All of them have an accuracy of 90% and a base power of 90! Whaddya think?" He explained with a grin.

"How devious of you." Forte grumbled.

"Go, Mewtwo! Psychokinesis!"

"Grah! Hell's Buster!"

"Psycho Cutter!"

"T-this JERK…!"

Forte jumped into the air and dived towards "Metwo" while holding out both of his Dark Arm Blades but the enemy didn't flinch.

"Wave Bomb!"

"Ugh! Damn!"

The attack hit Forte in the midst of his manouever and pushed him backwards just as "Mewtwo" jumped towards him.

"The final blow! Psycho Break!"

"Uga~h! Not yet!"

"What!"

"Earth… Breaker!"

"By all the…!"

Forte managed to withstand the powerful attack and began to build up energy on his right hand which expanded into a glowing spheroid: he struck the chest of "Metwo" and he made his signature cry before being deleted: Gufuu gasped.

"Impossible! A Level 100 "Mewtwo" defeated…?"

"Level 100 or whatever I don't care! I'm one of the strongest Navis in the Cyber World!" Forte shot back.

"What a pity. I was hoping to see you being beaten down. Maybe the Battle Tube or the Battle Factory will be hard enough challenges for you, I'd say. Heh, heh, heh." He formed a smug smile.

"Show your ugly hide already and fight me!"

"I shall show you something else. _Avada Kedavra_!"

"What!"

"You're supposed to fall dead with a look of fear and horror to your face, you know." Gufuu giggled.

"This guy…!"

"I am spectacular, thank you very much."

"Guts, guts! Mega Guts Punch!"

"Oh my. We have visits."

"Huh? Guts Man, you failed!"

"He didn't. I'm a hologram to begin with."

"Not fair!"

Guts Man had tried to hit Gufuu from behind but his attack passed through him and Dekao looked annoyed.

"Fair, gentlemen. Maybe you want to sneak into the new shop at night and steal some "intriguing" DVDs?" Gufuu invited.

"Oho! Count me in!" Dekao grinned.

"Oh. Did I forget to mention you need to get past laser sensors and CCTV cameras and there aren't access points?"

"Count me out." He sighed.

"Heh, heh, heh. You almost did a sinful thing, Ookarada."

"Ooyama!"

"Ookarada suits you better." Gufuu giggled.

"This guy…! Go, Guts Man! Guts Hammer!"

"GATTSU~! Guts Hammer!"

"Have you forgotten? I am a hologram!"

"Damn ya!"

"Well then… Enjoy! Heh, heh, heh."

Gufuu vanished, Dekao was annoyed and Forte grumbled.

_Will December the 1__st__ EVER come?_

"Attention! Ladies and gentlemen. Ms. Lucy suggests that the time to turn the flow into the reverse has come."

"OH YEAH!" Some girl Operators exclaimed.

"HUH?" Some guy Operators wondered.

"Lovely. Last thing we needed." Forte grumbled.

"I thereby announce that the cat bit his tail."

"HUH?" They all wondered.

"And that Higureya survived the revenge of the Demon Princess."

"Higureya?" They all wondered.

"NO WAY, DE MASU! THEY DON'T KNOW ABOUT HIGUREYA'S EXISTANCE~? MASU~!"

CRASH!

"A~h! Higure – sa~n!" Number Man gasped.

"What a damned farce. Worse than a _manzai_, even. Let's get outta here, Junior! Time to go have some rest." Forte growled.

_But, really! I can't wait anymore! I want this guy to go away NOW!_


	18. Chapter 18: Visitor

**Chapter 18: Visitor**

07:07 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday November the 29th…

"… Hmmm… All looks fine insofar, Sir Omega. I shall report back in five minutes' time."

"Roger. Out."

Blood Shadow was walking down an avenue in a server somewhere and reporting over the radio when he suddenly heard a weird noise echoing around the space.

_Huh? What was that…?_

He readed his shotgun and began to look around: there was nothing on sight yet the sound didn't stop and it sounded like metal scratching against metal.

_Hmmm… There's no one even though I'm using IR vision. The floor looks solid. Wait. Floor, walls… Maybe…?_

He looked at the ceiling and gasped: a silhouette was attached to it like a spider.

"Who goes there?" Blood Shadow demanded.

The figure opened two reddish eyes and detached from the ceiling thus falling into the ground.

"Hum. So you're the culprit behind the sound. Let's have a look at your ugly hide."

The enemy Navi appealed as being close to two meters tall.

The choice for color in his main body was brown with some black patterns around the neck, shoulders and hips: there was no space for a chest emblem anywhere.

The head had two small reddish eyes and a large mouth with sharp teeth aligned inside of it: two small ears popped out at both sides of his head as well and it had no nose or helmet.

The arms ended in pincers similar to that of lobsters and had purple spiraling patterns drawn over the surface: they included the elbows and shoulders.

The legs were rather thin and ended in sharp feet claws which shone as if to prove they were of a good quality.

Overall, he looked tall yet simplistic.

"… ENEMY IDENTIFIED. SWITCHING TO COMBAT MODE…" The Navi announced in a robotic and impersonal voice.

_Great. This one's programming is also written in _Katakana. _When will they write it in _Hiragana_? It wouldn't sound so impersonal!_ Blood Shadow inwardly thought while grumbling under his breath.

"… Who are ya?" Blood questioned.

"… MAN EATER MAN." The Navi replied.

"Whoa. Hold on a min, buddy. We're making a strang mix here. Are you "Eater Man Man", "Man Man Eater" or just "Eater Man"? Isn't there a redundancy of words?" Blood Shadow questioned while making the "stop" sign with his left hand.

"UNIT DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO RESTRICTED INFORMATION. UNIT'S ORDERS STATE TO DELETE ANY NAVI." Man Eater Man merely replied in its robotic tone.

"This is turning _confusing_." Blood Shadow grumbled.

"SUBJECT LOOKS WEAK. MAN EATER MAN WILL HAVE IT AS ITS _HOURS D'OUEVRE_." Man Eater Man announced.

"Obviously enough… Tabuu didn't bother to tell ya about my true potential. Area Steal! Charged shotgun shot!"

Blood Shadow appeared right in front of the Navi and placed the shotgun's barrel against its stomach area: he shot a brutal energized round which sent the enemy flying along with a metallic and robotic-sounding yell of pain.

"How was that like, ugly?" He taunted.

Man Eater Man quickly stood up and revealed that the wound had been rather superficial and had not inflicted much damage.

"Damn! He has extra armor, then?" He muttered.

"COME AT FULL POWER! IT'S OVER!" Sigma's heavy voice echoed inside of the area.

Sigma dropped down from a hole on the ceiling and confronted the enemy while having his typical smug smile on his face and holding his gigantic sword out.

"Sigma! Sir Omega sent ya?"

"He was worried that ye hadn't reported back. This one is Tabuu's latest pawn?"

"… TWO ENEMIES ARE PRESENT. THUS, MAN EATER MAN WILL HAVE A RATHER COMPLETE _APERITIF_." The Navi announced.

"What the heck?" Sigma sounded dumbfounded.

"That thing's dumb." Blood Shadow summarized.

"I get the point. Hey! Ugly! Come 'ere and I'm gonna bust ya!" Sigma taunted.

"DEVOUR FANGS."

The enemy jumed towards Sigma and tried to bite his right arm but Sigma spun around his axis and hit the enemy on the neck with his gigantic sword thus knocking it back and making it hit the ground with a loud metallic sound while leaving a noticeable dent on its body.

"… UNIT IS BEGINNING TO OVERRIDE ETHICAL PROGRAM AND SWITCHING TO PROFANITY PROGRAM. LOWLIFES. JERKS. BANDITS. CROOKS. GRAVE-ROBBERS. PLEBEIANS." The enemy announced before beginning to list a series of insults.

"That's lame." Sigma sounded bored.

"Yeah. Let's show this thing that the show's over."

"… LOW-RANK RECRUITS. DESERTERS. TRAITORS. BARBARIANS. PLEBEIANS. CARPET – SELLERS. BOMB – SELLERS. TERRORISTS. SCUM." The Navi kept on lisitng.

"I didn't like that last one! Eat sword!" Sigma grumbled.

While Blood Shadow shot a blast at the Navi's right shoulder to distract it, Sigma tried to drive his sword through its back, but got stopped by a thick layer of inner armor.

"What!"

Sigma pulled back and stepped away from the enemy while hissing curses under his breath.

"It'd seem this one was designed for us to handle."

"Yeah. The armor is very thick. We'd need something to melt it."

A ball of plasma was shot out of nowhere and it hit the armor using the hole Sigma had generated: the thing melted in a flash and exposed a large bomb-like device connected to the inner body of the Navi.

"Sir Omega!" Both saluted.

Omega disengaged his stealth camouflage and quickly nodded to the other two while he seemed to try to analyze the best course of action given how he brought the left hand to his chin.

"… This server is unused and is scheduled to be sent to the junkman's… So it won't matter much. Pull back, guys. Let's do this _Kamikaze_ a favor and let it fulfill its job. Bert Saxby placed the "you're fired" curse on the jerk as well." Omega muttered, thinking, before putting up a smug smile and issuing orders.

Omega double-jumped to avoid being caught by the insect limbs of the Navi and biten: he arched his body backwards and aimed for the bomb program.

"_Hasta la vista_, _baby_." Omega laughed.

07:14 PM (Bermuda Time), Tuesday November the 28th…

"… So! This time it was a lame-programmed _kamizake_ – capable Net Navi with the equally lame name of "Man Eater Man", then?"

"Yessir. I told him to go visit Bert Saxby, _shachou_."

"Stop trolling around. Did you delete it yes or not?"

"I made the guy a favor and let him go down in shame with the not – so – heroic bomb inside of him."

"Just say you triggered the bomb and left those servers unable to be used but since they were to be sent to the junkman's anyway…"

"Heh, heh, heh. By the way, Brad Shad went to the "Y" Theater with Delta Team and Rocky V1 to have a threesome."

"By all the… Blood Shadow ISN'T designed to do that! And do you think a trio of 14 year old guys are gonna go to a cinema where they project such explicit male-only movies?"

Vadous was discussing with Omega what had happened a while earlier: Omega began to pull trolls and Vadous didn't seem to like them in the least.

The room was a small stone – made room and was barely lit: the only pieces of furniture where a black rotating armchair plus a desk having a MacBook atop it.

"Boss! This is scandalous, sir!"

"What now?"

"Ops. Look! A cobra!"

"Cobra? In Bermuda…?"

Blood Shadow's voice rang out and Omega grinned before pointing to a corner: he ran out while Blood Shadow stepped in while looking pretty annoyed.

"Boss!"

"What did that jerk do to you now?"

"He seized me from behind and tried to make a… non-decent pose… to suggest he was going to… eh… to do "it"!"

"By all the… The guy's turning into a _yaoi_ fan or what?" Vadous cursed aloud in obvious exasperation.

"So it'd seem, sir!" Blood Shadow growled.

"OMEGA~!" He roared.

"Catch me, _shachou_~! I'm going into the "Matrix"!"

"A billion blue blistering barnacles!"

"What do we do, Boss?" Blood Shadow asked.

"You've got permission to defend yourself if the guy dares to do it twice: your privacy is a factual right!" Vadous ordered.

"Roger!"

"Extra, extra! Rock Man, Delta and Brad Shad spotted making out together in a 10 – star hotel suite in Hong – Kong!" Omega laughed.

"By all the… There aren't 10 – star hotels!"

"Luckily this never comes out of the base."

"Yeah, luckily enough…!"

Vadous ran out of the room while Blood Shadow leant his back against a wall and sighed: he then gripped the shotgun with the left hand and it clicked before it neatly split into two and slid up the length of his forearm.

"I feel better without that thing on. I'm going to my room. I wanna have some private time of my own…"

He walked outside of the room, down a corridor and into a small room which had some crates plus a cylindrical – shaped device with two dome-shaped ends and an arched covered hanging at the right side of the thing: some wires emerged from it and connected to a control panel.

"My capsule… Given how I'm an android to begin with then I only need that to sleep while a thourough check of my systems is being run. It's confortable enough for me." He muttered.

He sat down atop a crate and took out his helmet revealing the rest of his face: his reddish hair formed a set of three spear - shaped patterns near the rear part of the head which aimed forward: part of the hair climbed down a bit of his forehead and stopped a few centimeters short of his nose: his facial features did look like the age of Netto and the others yet his eyes' irises were a mix of red and golden.

"Phew. It's been a while since I took this thing off. I sometimes forget that it's not an integral part of my hair." He muttered.

He placed the helmet nearby and then looked at his hands: like most Net Navis, his "skin" was colored in a different color because he had an extra layer over it to protect it.

"Hmpf. Of course… But I know my skin beneath this is pretty similar in looks to normal skin. I can't sweat, obviously enough, and it can't change given contact with water or dryness."

He sighed and looked around in a distracted manner as he rubbed his hair with the right hand in an automatic gesture.

"… If only they knew…" He muttered before trailing off.

He stood up and began to pace around the crate while closing his eyes and apparently trying to focus: he headed over to a small safe and unlocked it to take out a Nintendo DS console which he turned on.

"Let's continue with our _Diamond_ play-through… Thanks to the trading with Sigma and Sir Omega I've filled up a lot of my Pokémon Encyclopedia… And we downloaded some of the items needed to catch event Pokémon, too… The Darkrai event was spooky, though. But it's a game, after all. It's not like it'll come out and cause me endless nightmares… And I doubt Tabuu wanting to play _that_ dirty."

He resumed playing while he whistled a tune and seemed to shake off some of his tension…

11:04 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright. I come here to visit and guess who greets me? A bloody Entei came out of nowhere! And they set it to Level 100, too!"

"Who could've done this, Beta X?"

"Jeez! Zarashe – kun! Ain't it obvious? That Tabuu guy Rock Man kept on talking about… He's a diehard _Pocket Monsters_ fan!"

"Yessir. But I'd rather prefer to be named "Sorcerer Gufuu" if you don't mind, Beta X and Zarashe Wan from Kyoto…"

Beta X was a Net Navi who appealed as being over a meter and sixty tall, maybe closer to a meter and seventy.

His eyes' irises were blood red in coloring but they lacked pupils: his facial expression denoted seriousness.

His helmet's main color was black as well yet he had some blue pieces of armor built around the edges of it and spanning through the middle of the helmet: a red pyramidal jewel aiming downwards (similar to Omega's) had been set directly above his nose.

The helmet included five extensions shaped like wings and colored white plus a golden edge: two formed on the lower edge of the helmet, another two formed at a height over the eyes and the last one sprouted from the middle of his helmet while aiming upwards.

His main body's color choice was black: he had a white piece of armor set over the chest which contained a ruby jewel and two wing-like extensions spreading across the torso until the shoulders: the Alphabet letters "BX" colored golden were set within a piece of armor located over the upper edge of the ruby.

A golden edge surrounded his neck and formed a small collar-like object around it: his shoulders had white armor over it: three thin spear-like extensions formed behind them and gave off the impression of a wing as well: the uppermost piece was golden in coloring while the other two pieces were white.

His arms' skin was black until the elbow: white armor encompassed it and extended until the hands and fingers: a golden ring served as additional protection for the wrists.

The rest of his upper body had no decoration whatsoever until the hips, where the leg armor began at: a golden edge in the shape of a triangle marked the start of it.

The remainder of the legs' armor was painted using white color palette: the knees had extra armor over them and two small and short wing-like extensions.

Golden pieces of armor showed up over the ankles yet there was a space between them and the legs: they were bent upwards to form a triangle and included the wing shapes on their edges.

Lastly, his feet's armor included two pieces of outer edge and another two pieces which were separated by a slight space between the front and the rear of them.

Overall, his appearance was reminiscent of a "fallen angel" given the color motifs and all the winged extensions.

"Go, Entei! Eruption!"

"Grah! What power!"

"Are you alright?"

Zarashe Wan, as displayed by the holographic screen, had jet – black hair and his eyes' irises were red yet they only displayed concern: he seemed to be wearing a middle school uniform, too.

"I am! Give me some Water – Attribute Battle Chips!" He called back with some annoyance.

"Roger! Battle Chip, Side Bubble! Slot In!"

"_Daimonji_!" ("Great Symbol")

Entei inhaled and shot a blast of fire in the form the _dai_ (big) _Kanji_ on the enemy: Beta X groaned and looked annoyed.

"No more Mr. Nice! Ice Mode!"

His body colorings changed to an icy blue color and he drew a white buster which had a fin-like shape forming mid-way through its length: a golden edge ran up the right edge of the buster as well.

"Combine Side Bubble and my mode… Mega Bubble!"

A torrent of bubbles was shot out and impacted Entei on different parts of his body: he growled and stepped back yet that wasn't enough to take him down.

"Smoke Burst!"

"Ugh! That hurt…! Once again! Mega Bubble!"

"Flame Fang!"

"Mega Bubble! There!"

Entei growled and fell into the ground, defeat, while Beta X panted from his wounds and groaned: he was barely managing to stand as Gufuu floated down and landed in front of him.

"Bravo. Well then, expect me to drop by in another few days' time to say goodbye. Then the Z – Militia will stop worrying you guys. I know you barely survived an attempt to fight the combined power of Moonlight and Sunlight." He giggled.

"Che… Bring it on, sorcerer jerk!"

"My, my. Sorry but I'm on a rush. Do enjoy your reunion with the the Akihara Town Gang. Heh, heh, heh."

Gufuu vanished while Zarashe sighed and looked somewhat nervous and depressed.

"Beta… Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all, so…"

"No! Don't chicken out, Zarashe – kun. You know they forgave you. Why do you hesitate so much? Prove them that you're a good friend! Don't let that fragile bond be broken." Beta X insisted.

"… Guess you're right."

"Yo! Beta X."

"Delta. It's been a while." Beta X greeted.

"Nice of you to drop by… Are you coming over?"

"Yeah. This weekend." Beta X confirmed.

"Good! I'll tell everyone. We could go to the cinema or stage Wi-Fi battles with our _Black _and_ White_ games, too."

"Count me in. I won't lose!" Zarashe began to look animated.

"That's the spirit! Hmmm?"

"Gattsu~! Guts Machinegun!"

"My dear sir, I am afraid you keep on forgetting what "hologram" means to begin with. Or should I say that I am invincible instead?"

"Shaddup! I'm the Number One Net Battler in Akihara Town!"

"T-this MEDDLING JERK!" Meiru roared over the line.

SLAP!

"Wa~h!" Dekao cried.

"Play the victim, play it! You compulsive liar! You Fatman! You punk! I'll go speak to the home-room teacher NOW!" Meiru grumbled.

"N-no! W-wait!" Dekao pleaded.

"Maybe it'd be better to say "I'll do my best" instead…" Beta X muttered.

"G-guess so…" Delta looked nervous.

"Heh, heh, heh. _Femme fatale_." Gufuu amusedly muttered.

He vanished with a giggle while Guts Man sighed in defeat and the other three rolled their eyes.

_What a chaos!_


	19. Chapter 19: Rounded up

**Chapter 19: Rounded up**

17:45 PM (Taiwan Time), Friday November the 31st…

"… This time… We'll go target the WikiLeaks servers and make business with the info they already got. We'll save ourselves the trouble of hacking it outta the military, see!"

"Roger."

"Moonlight, Sunlight. Stage a diversion in some random server. Try MegaUpload. Kratins Boo will infiltrate and plant the bug in a discrete manner. A hologram of him will take part in the assault to further fool the Officials."

"Heh, heh, heh. As expected of General Sentou… He has some good insight, eh, _ane – ue_?"

"Yeah, _otouto_. But let's get ready for the mission."

"For the glory of the Z – Militia!"

"HORRAY~!"

The three Navis finished the briefing with General Sentou and looked exultant: an explosion suddenly rang out not too far from there and they gasped as they got into battle stances.

"Damn. They found us!" Kratins Boo hissed.

"That Tabuu lowlife tipped them off!" Sunlight growled.

"We'll fight to the end!" Moonlight rallied.

"Is that so?" A voice replied.

Forte, "Gospel Jr.", Blood Shadow, Sigma and Omega stepped through the shattered firewall.

"No way! Forte!" Kratins Boo gasped.

"Way. You're my opponent." Forte calmly replied.

"Let's go!" Omega rallied.

"Missile Barrage!" Kratins Boo roared.

"Moon Meteors!"

"Sun Meteors!"

"Hell's Buster!"

"Charged shotgun shot!"

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah! Demon Sword!"

Forte used his Hell's Buster to shoot the missiles and jumped into the air yet he couldn't avoid being hit head-on by the laser which knocked him into the ground: he groaned and managed to stand up.

"Che."

Blood Shadow shot a charged shotgun blast at the meteors, thus deleting several of them but others did get to rain down around him and inflict contusion damage plus shockwave damage to him.

"By all the…!"

Sigma didn't get out of the pinch unscratched either as he deflected all meteors with his gigantic sword save for a few ones which hit his feet and the ground around it yet he didn't seem to feel any pain.

"Heh! Not bad."

"Homing Missile! Ball! Grenades! Rail Gun!"

"Flashbang! Twilight Beam!"

"Uh-oh."

Kratins Boo began a series of maddening quick attacks: he shot a missile which homed into Forte and impacted into his body followed by that spheroid which broke out in eight portions, three incendiary grenades and a powerful laser blast from his gun.

"Damn. I talked too much last time around. And now I'm paying the consequences!" He growled.

Moonlight and Sunlight formed two energy spheres colored white and orange respectively which fused into a sole grayish one and shot a continous beam of energy at Blood Shadow and Sigma: Sigma did manage to use his sword to deflect some of the energy before being pushed backwards and inflicted constant damage: they hit the firewall with loud THUD sounds and groaned.

"You two! Are you alright?" Omega asked.

"Grah… What power!" Blood Shadow groaned.

"They're not kidding!" Sigma growled.

"You're next! Twilight Beam!"

"Plasma Round!"

"What!"

Omega whipped around in a blur and shot a plasma round at the gray spheroid as it prepared to shoot next: the plasma merged with it and the energy went out of control so it implosioned and both were pushed apart by the consequent shockwave: they groaned and took out their flash-bang grenades which they detonated.

"Cheap."

Omega drew his O – Saber and began to change its angle and position to block all attempts by Moonlight and Sunlight to attack him with their scout knives: they gapsed and had to recoil.

"No more Mr. Nice, Kratins Boo! Go, "Gospel Jr."!"

"Grrr!"

"Gospel Jr." opened the mouth and shot a torrent of purplish flames which bathed the ground with Kratins Boo standing on it: he suddenly formed his cloak and tossed it in front of him so that the flames focused on it and he warped to appeared behind Forte and drive a large knife attached to his gun's muzzle through him: Forte opened his mouth wide in surprise and groaned before he collapsed into the ground.

"Hah! You lowlife are the "Ultimate Net Navi", they say? Wily was clearly idiotic when he began to claim that!" General Sentou laughed.

"D-damn you…!"

"You hurt a comrade. And now you pay for it."

"Damn! I'd forgotten about that one!"

Kratins Boo jumped back to avoid a wide arched energy slash from Omega's O – Saber while Blood Shadow and Sigma resumed fighting Moonlight and Sunlight.

"Missile Barrage!"

"O – Saber!"

Kratins Boo shot the barrage of missiles at Omega and he cut through all of them yet the laser hit him fully and made him crash against the firewall thus getting stuck there: he groaned and tried to break out.

"Scout Grenade!"

"Sword Fighter X!"

Moonlight tossed a grenade towards Blood Shadow but he drew a red, curved and indented blade over his left forearm which he used to split in two halves and nullify its effects: Moonlight cursed under her breath and jumped backwards.

"Scout Grenade!"

"Demon Rings!"

Sunlight tried the same trick yet Sigma extended his left hand to the front and formed some thin bluish energy rings frizzling with electricity: Sunlight hit the lower edge of one of them and got electrocuted: he was unable to react as another four hit him next and further electrocuted him.

"Ugh… This guy… is annoying me… for real… Che… Damn… I just want to… destroy… enemy… destroy… enemy… DESTROY… DESTROY~! HROA~H!"

"Damn! Don't do that, Omega!"

Omega had been trying to get out of the hole he did in the firewall and began to look annoyed: his eyes' irises suddenly began to turn blood red and his voice began to distort and sound out of tune: his body twitched and he gripped the O – Saber with more force as its blade color switched to blood red as well: a grimace formed on his face and his teeth became clearly visible: blood red light began to form around him and surround his skin while Vadous yelled at him over the radio.

"HROA~H! WRA~H! UGRYA~H!"

"Fuck! Damn it! The override code, quickly! Huh? Rejected? Damn it! No way! You changed it again, fool?" Vadous cursed over the radio.

Omega growled as a suddenly burst of energy spread out of his core and surrounded his whole body: his blonde hair flickered around and spread in a wild manner while his voice tune turned ferocious and beast-like: he broke out of the firewall and dashed towards Kratins Boo at an impossible speed: Kratins Boo tossed the supporting structure of his cloak at him but he jumped over it.

"Damn! Rail Gun!"

"That's not a good idea, Kratins Boo." Vadous sighed.

The Rail Gun laser seemed to only anger Omega further and he began to jump around Kratins Boo and try to tackle him yet he was able to dodge him and move around in an agile manner.

"Uh-oh. Trouble." Sigma muttered.

"This could ruin the point of the whole operation!" Blood Shadow cursed aloud.

"What's with the guy? Too much marijuana?" Moonlight taunted Blood Shadow with a smug smile.

"I'd say too much LSD." Sunlight taunted.

"No! That's his full power without restrain! His "Dark Messiah" combat mode! His terrific true power! His full power! He normally fights at about 70% power, but…"

"WHAT? He increases his power by a further 30%?" Both gasped in horror at the news.

"And that's not all. When he gets in that mode, all speech and thought programs are cancelled and instead he devotes over 95% of his processor to fighting and defeating the enemy no matter what it takes! He doesn't feel pain in this form because his CNS – equivalent program isn't being run either! He won't react to any words, either!" Sigma added.

"By all the…!" General Sentou was pale by now.

"That's why he's our CO! His power is brutally high!" Blood Shadow told them.

"And that's why Tabuu fears him! That power! Tabuu fears that power! That unleashed feral power!" Sigma told them.

"Indeed… I didn't think I'd see it on action ever again."

"What? Gufuu!"

Gufuu had shown up in the air and looked nervous as he witnessed how Omega was still playing "cat-and-mouse" with Kratins Boo who didn't seem to get tired at all.

"It's a bit earlier than my deadline yet I thought it would be more fitting to wrap up Nebula Grey's proxies before I go back to my "B Front" and handle things there after a generous break I granted them." He calmly announced with a shrug.

"So it's like Boss thought... Or not?" Blood Shadow asked.

"Parallelisms, parallelisms…" He giggled.

"Huh? The Parallel Avenue in Barcelona?"

"Speaking of Barcelona, wouldn't you guess? I borrowed a bit of the _Mare Nostrum_ supercomputer to create my programs. It still is a fine-quality supercomputer after all!" He told them.

"So that's where you were? You skipped distances thanks to the "Dimensional Converters"…?"

"Correct, gentlemen."

"HRA~H! HROA~H! GRWA~H!"

"Missile Barrage! Rail Gun! Grenades! Ball! Homing Missile! What does it take to halt you lowlife?"

Kratins Boo unleashed all of his attacks into Omega: he could intercept some of them in a blunt manner yet the others which hit him didn't slow him down at all.

"Moonlight, Sunlight! Attack with the "Twilight Beam"!"

"Roger!"

Moonlight and Sunlight jumped away from Blood Shadow and Sigma: the two of them tried to chase them but they hit an invisible wall: they stepped back and tried to study it.

"This looks like "Light Wall" from _Pockets Monsters_… You wouldn't have happened to set it up, would you, Tabuu?" Blood Shadow questioned him by looking upwards.

"Honestly, no. I was engrossed looking at that."

"I think he's saying the truth." Vadous admitted.

"Twilight Beam!"

"Crap! Omega! Incoming attack from the rear! Command Code: Charlie 111! Move it!" Vadous yelled.

Omega turned around to see the incoming "Twilight Beam" and used his large energy arch to split in two so only the lower half of it hit him and the damage was reduced to the half: he then ran forward while roaring only to met another "Light Wall" separating him from Moonlight and Sunlight who sighed in relief.

"Luckily enough I thought of this trick!" General Sentou laughed as he typed into the laptop.

"Damn." Vadous cursed.

"You're trapped in cage! Try to break out: it's impossible!"

"You're forgetting ME! Darkness Overload!"

The blast shattered one of the "Light Walls" and Omega ran towards the duo who split off: Omega then stopped and seemed to analyze something before turning around and heading for Kratins Boo only to hit another "Light Wall" but Forte stepped in front of him and drove both Dark Arm Blades through it thus shattering it and allowing Omega to move on forward: "Gospel Jr." began to ram into them and his mass was enough to break some more of it.

"Did you think I don't have tricks to heal myself? The cocktail of things I've absorbed over the years includes Recovery Type Battle Chips! I had enough time to heal myself back to full HP while you were busy meddling around!" Forte exclaimed.

"My, my. This is turning as hot as Cuba." Gufuu grinned.

"We don't wanna remember the 1963 Cuba Missile Crisis thank you very much!" Vadous grumbled.

"Naked Snake didn't like the comment either during the "Virtuous Mission"… Major Zero's comment was somewhat unfortunate yet given how the thing seemed to be heating up…" Gufuu calmly explained as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Someone stop this rampaging thing!" Kratins Boo yelled.

"Alright, alright... They're weak enough by now… So… Cancel Code! Beta 222! Input! Canceling! Cool-down!"

Omega stopped his movements and the glowing light began to dim while his saber and eye irises began to return to normal: his facial expression now showed surprise and slight confusion as he looked at the saber and then around him.

"Huh? I thought I'd gotten stuck on the firewall. When did I break free and what are those wall remains?" He wondered.

"Long story." Vadous sentenced.

"Oh crap. I went berserk again?"

"Yeah. I had to stop you or else the point of this mission wouldn't have been fulfilled." Vadous confirmed.

"Alright. Deploy!"

"Deploy what?" Kratins Boo growled.

Three square platforms formed on the feet of each Z – Militia Net Navi followed by four tall thick blackish walls and a cover thus completely isolating them inside of them.

"Damn! The traps we designed to be used on the eclipse day! I can't believe _we're_ the ones to be trapped into them!" Moonlight cursed from inside of one of them as she banged them.

"And we designed them to cancel Cross Fusion but we should be able to attack them!" Sunlight rallied.

"No use! There's no space to maneuver and we'd be attacking ourselves instead!" Kratins Boo hissed.

"No way! Our own trap fires back at us?" Moonlight gasped.

"This can't be!" Sunlight cursed next.

"Damn them!" Kratins Boo hissed.

"_This _is the point of the mission! You're powerless by now and you got way too tired to be able to fight your way out!" Vadous exclaimed with a smile.

"Impressive, _aibou_! I'll give you that." Gufuu smiled.

"Mission: complete!" Omega announced.

"Omega! Hurry it up and go out: I think Sentou might get desperate so you gotta stop the jerk!" Vadous commanded.

"Roger!"

"We won!" Forte, Blood Shadow and Sigma exclaimed.

18:03 PM (Taiwan Time)…

"… Shit! Time to run…"

Sentou quickly stood but he heard how the front door was forced open and heavy footsteps heading for the stairs' door.

"No…! I won't give them the pleasure!" He muttered.

He managed to block the door with the bed and then rummaged inside of a drawer to take out a service revolver the chamber of which he checked: it was loaded with the six bullets.

"Cheat codes are forbidden." Someone suddenly announced.

Sentou gasped and turned around to spot Omega there, who looked annoyed: Omega kicked the revolver out of his hand and he picked it up: he opened the window and calmly ejected all cartridges into the street before tossing the revolver out as well.

"Farewell."

He de-materialized and the door was forced open by armored police agents.

"Don't move! You're under arrest!" Several policemen announced.

"Damn!"

"Your Z – Militia is over as of today!"

"Impossible!"

He was led out while he brandished menaces in vain: one officer checked the PC to see how the four Navis were recovering from the all – out battle and looked tired.

"Good work over there! They're done for."

"Did ya hear that? _It's party time_~!" Omega laughed.

"Yahoo!"

The whole group clapped to celebrate their victory…


	20. Chapter 20: Finale

**Chapter 20: Finale**

09:49 AM (Japan Time), Saturday December the 1st…

"… We've got a big headline for today! Yesterday evening, in Taiwan, the leader of the infamous Z – Militia, Former General Alister Sentou was arrested. Some elite Navis came in and captured the three Navi members of the Z – Militia. Mr. Sentou is to be extradited to the Z – Nation where a civilian court will process him for his involvement on the country's repression forces of the military government. Thus the Z – Militia has been officially disbanded and all of the stolen information will be returned to its owners soon enough. Switching to the next headline…"

Tomono turned off his house's living room TV and sighed in relief.

"The Z – Militia is gone at last…!"

"That's great, Noa – kun!" Rafael told him.

"Yeah! We're now free from their machinations."

"By the way… A mail came in last night. But the sender is named "Lord of Bricks"… What should I do?" Rafael asked.

"Hmmm… It doesn't contain any malicious programs?"

"It doesn't." Rafael confirmed.

"What does it say?" Tomono asked.

"The mail itself is blank but there's an adjacent WAV audio file."

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Do not fret if you receive this last honorable message from a humble gentleman. I am merely announcing that, alas, some affairs recall my full attention elsewhere, so I shall be departing. You shall not hear of me for a very long time, I can assure of you. And since the Z – Militia is gone as well you can all go back to your beloved "stability"… Or I should say "peace" instead? Do enjoy your daily lives and try not to explode into crazy laugther once you hear my final gift for all of you. Yours honorably, the Lord of the Rings… Or is it Lord of the Bricks? Heh, heh, heh… Farewell." A familiar voice explained.

The recording had a pause but it was still on, since both Noa and Rafael could hear some slight sounds: there was another clearing of the throat and the sound of someone innahiling.

"_Semejanza del semejante que se fue de semejanzos con una semejenza del semejunzo!_" The voice exclaimed in a rush.

The recording finally ended and both Rafael and Noa looked baffled and taken aback.

"… That was Tabuu, wasn't it?" Noa asked after about two minutes, blinking.

"Yeah… I can recognize that tune anywhere…" Rafael confirmed.

"And what was the point of the undecipherable rush?"

"… Huh… It was in Spanish… So I'll attempt a translation… It's all a pun riddle based on the similarity of how a word sounds when you change vowels… More like a tongue-twister… "Ressemblance of the ressembling who went ressembling with a ressembling of the resemblance"… That's how I can translate it…" Rafael looked unsure.

"What craziness, really."

"Totally. But at least he's going to leave us alone."

"That's the positive part, after all!"

"And I'll go sharpen my skills into the "WWW Area"! I need to perfect the timing of Program Advances, ya see, Capt'n."

"The pirate dialect again…" Tomono giggled.

"Yessir! O, ho, ho, ho! Bring the buttle of rum and let's go dance around Davy Jones' locker!" He tried to make up an imposing voice.

"Or let's go find the treasure in _Treasure Island_."

"The treasure-hunting season has begun!"

Both laughed in a jovial tone of voice and looked like they'd shaken a lot of stress off them…

11:45 AM (Japan Time)…

"… _What_! You were downloading cheats for the online game of the _Lord of the Rings_, Hinoken!"

"Damn."

Count Elec was confronting Hinoken about what he'd found out regarding Hinoken's downloads: both were standing inside of the Maha Ichiban's storeroom.

"This is the act of a bandit! _Unbelievable_!" Count Elec told him.

"Hmpf! Look who's talkin'… You look like a clow!" Hinoken shot back while folding his arms.

"_What!_ Why, you…! Hinoken! _It's fight time_!" Count Elec pointed an accusing finger at him.

"Bring it on, clown!"

Both began to punch each other and roll over the ground while clouds of dust formed around them and they yelled curses at each other.

"Count Elec – sama tends to get into trouble for nothing." Elec Man grimly muttered.

"Hinoken – sama tends to have too little of a patience." Fire Man grimly muttered.

"I knew it'd end up like this." Madoi looked unimpressed.

"Yeah. You could feel it on the air." Colored Man affirmed.

"It'd seem I should teach them about the pureness of _yoga_." Mahajarama announced.

"I somehow doubt they will even listen to Maha Jarama – sama." Magic Man grimly muttered.

Madoi and Maha kept on working while the other two quarreled and shouting at each other in the background: they had too much of an explosive nature…

14:45 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Pst! Rafael… Can you come with me? I wanna tell you a little something…"

"Okay."

The 2 – A students had gathered in Yaito's mansion garden and the remains of a large lunch could be seen around there: Netto, Saito, Hiro, Drake, Yaito, Meiru, Dekao, Hikawa and Tomono could be seen spread around there.

"Let's let Noa – kun nap for a while. It won't take long."

Drake had picked Tomono's PET from where it was, close to a device for massive Plug – In, and glanced at Tomono, who was sleeping while sitting on one of the armchairs.

"Damn! Down to the last one… But this can still turn around! You have two left but I can make you sweat!"

"Bring it on!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Have fun."

Netto and Hiro were playing with their Nintendo DS while Saito looked on with a smile on his face and crossing his arms.

"And next time we'll make it softer. We don't wanna go overboard, really…" Meiru told Yaito.

"Yeah. Better tune it down." Yaito shrugged.

"Phew." Hikawa sighed in relief.

"Man. I'm being ignored again…" Dekao sighed.

Drake walked over to a corner of the garden hidden by a large tree and then looked at the Link PET.

"I'm really Delta." He told him.

"I'd guessed it." Rafael grinned.

"Sorry for not telling you straight away, but we wanted to keep the illusion that Delta and I are two separate persons."

"I get the idea, buddy. But I'm sure you wanted to tell me something else. Am I right?" Rafael assumed.

"Yeah. I guess that Noa – kun must feel rather alone when his father isn't home even if you're there… Thus I'm gonna give you something." Drake told him while blinking him an eye.

"Oho…"

Drake took out Hiro's Link PET and connected a cable between each of them before he inputted some commands: a status bar popped out and soon reached the 100% mark.

"This is a special Copy Roid program: it works exactly like mine. You could materialize and keep Noa – kun more company. I'm sure he needs it from time to time." Drake told him.

"Thanks a lot! Yeah. He needed it. He tends to be sad or nervous even while I'm around." Rafael affirmed.

"It's our little secret deal." Drake blinked him an eye.

"… Guts, guts! I need to train, guts!"

"No. You need to come up with the Gorilla Idiom – Japanese dictionary, Fat Man V2." Roll shot back.

"Hum… I think that…" Glyde muttered.

"Desu! That was funny!" Ice Man giggled.

"Join the party!" Drake rallied.

"Roger, Capt'n!"

"Plug In. Rafael, Transmission."

"Yo! Guys! Look at my acrobatics!"

Drake giggled under his breath and looked rather amused…

07:33 AM (Bermuda Time)…

"… Yo! _Shachou_! Beware! Coffe Man has called for a syndicate strike! Heh, heh, heh!"

"Yeah, yeah. What have you done now?"

"My helmet! Where is it?"

"My sword! Where is it?"

"Ops. _Ciao~_!"

"OMEGA~!"

Vadous walked into his office to find Omega grinning and he directed a skeptical glare at him: Blood Shadow's and Sigma's confused voices rang out and Omega ran off all of a sudden.

"Damn Omega!" He growled.

The PC beeped and he whipped around to check it out.

"Mail… From "majingufuu yahoo com"… Tabuu, huh. Hmmm… "Well then, _aibou_, the party's over. It was fun while it lasted. But now I'm going to my own "B Front" and the hint I'm gonna give ya is "parallel"… I'm sure you can decode the rest on your own. As for what could happen in the future, that's up to Nebula Grey. I did try to chase the guy but he gave me the slip in the end. Try to survive Omega's crazyness. Good luck." … Hmpf. Alright, so there's no grudge. But there never was. And at least he tried to do something useful." He muttered.

He sat down on the armchair and spotted something under the desk: he crouched and picked Blood Shadow's helmet before he dragged out Sigma's sword.

"What a guy. Guess I need to take some time to reprogram him or else there'll be no – one sane left here." He muttered.

"Alright, guys! Let's go visit B-B-B-Bertie~ next!"

Omega laughed while Vadous sighed in defeat…

19:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I'm home… Father isn't home today, either. If only I had someone else to keep me company… I miss Mother. It's been four years, but… Damn. I'm so unlucky with life, really!"

Tomono stepped into his house and looked both sad and annoyed: he tossed his backpack into a corner and then sat down on the sofa while hanging his head down.

"Yo."

Two hands covered his eyes from behind all of a sudden.

"Guess who I am, Noa – kun!" A familiar voice rang out.

"Huh… Tooru – kun?" He tried to guess.

"No."

"Netto – kun? Saito – kun?"

"Wrong."

"Hiro – kun? Drake – kun?"

"Wrong."

"I give up." Tomono admitted.

"Check it out."

He turned around and spotted Rafael standing here: he'd changed his bodysuit for jeans, a brownish wool jumper and white socks plus having slippers on.

He'd also let some of his hair cover his forehead, thus giving him somewhat of a "cool" look.

"Ra – Rafael…? Is that you…?" Tomono gasped.

"Yup! It's me. Surprised?" Rafael smiled.

"Where did you get the Copy Roid from…?" Tomono asked.

"Delta gave me a copy of it. He guessed you needed it." Rafael admitted with a shrug.

"Whoa. Wait… Then… Drake – kun _IS_ Delta?" Tomono gasped.

"Yeah. He didn't tell anyone 'cause it was to keep the appearances, but it's indeed him." Rafael confirmed.

"… This is… fantastic…" Tomono muttered.

He suddenly hugged Rafael and pressed his head against him: Rafael was about four inches taller than him.

"So? Can we be together in the same world starting today's evening, Noa – kun?" Rafael asked him.

"Yeah. Please be with me." Tomono looked relieved.

"By the way… Are you still using that stuff or did you get rid of it already by now?"

"… Eh… Truth to be told…" Tomono blushed and looked elsewhere: he was clearly taken aback by the question.

"Guess you can't be helped in that… But you _do_ take it off the day there's gonna be P.E. class, right?" Rafael assumed.

"Of course I do… But I've grown to like it a lot…"

"… Then I'll be your new playmate. Do you like the idea?" Rafael told him, smiling.

"… Yeah. Thanks a lot. Of course, we'll keep it between friends…" Tomono looked relieved.

"Sure thing. But at least we won't go crazy hearing to that infamous riddle a hundred times." Rafael tried to cheer the atmosphere up.

"Heh. That's for sure… We'll always be friends, Rafael."

"We'll always be friends, Noa – kun."

They directed a smile at each other and looked relieved…

20:05 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Yeah. You needn't worry, Tooru. We'll arrange for another trip one of these days."

"It'll be fun."

"Thanks a lot…"

Hikawa was talking with both Hiro and Drake via his Link PET: Hiro and Drake had already changed into their pajamas by now.

"Then you can enlighten us with your Onsenpedia knowledge." Hiro teased him.

"Hiro – kun…" Drake didn't seem to like the nickname.

"Don't mind him, Drake – kun. I'm starting to like the nickname." Hikawa looked amused.

"This thing sounds like it'll be fun, desu!" Ice Man sounded eager.

"YAY! I FINALLY FOUND GIMLI – SAMA! HOW MANY DID ORCS DID THOU BEHEAD IN THE BATTLE OF HELM'S DEEP?" A Program – kun suddenly asked Ice Man.

"W-what, desu?" Ice Man was taken aback.

"Another diehard _Lord of the Rings_ fan… They're spreading faster than the flu!" Hiro sounded exasperated.

"I don't see Ice Man in the role of Gimli at all." Drake added.

"YAY! GIMLI – SAMA'S SOUL HAS REINCARNATED INSIDE OF ICE MAN – SAMA! GO FREEZE MORDOR AND IT'LL TURN INTO THE MIDDLE EARTH'S BIGGEST ICE SKATING LANE!" The Program – kun kept on exclaiming while jumping off the ground.

"Oi, oi, oi!" Hikawa sounded nervous.

"What I should do, desu…?" Ice Man looked baffled.

"YAY! YAY! YAY! TRIPLE VICTORY FOR GIMLI – SAMA!"

20:10 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hum… You sure do it better than Enzan. The guy just wanted to look like it was a mere hobby... Saito – niisan…"

"Heh, heh, heh. Of course I do it better, Netto – kun!"

Netto and Saito were making out inside of their house's shower: Netto was leaning his hands against the wall and had inclined his body backwards a bit as Saito moved his cock in and out while holding Netto by the lower edges of his torso: he was also toying with Netto's sack and he looked in ecstasy while Saito was grinning.

"Ah… I think that I'm about to come to… Saito – niisan…"

"Then let it go off." Saito instructed.

He aimed the cock upwards towards Netto's lowered face and saw how it went off and stained Netto's upper torso and face: his inner muscles closed around Saito's own cock and he released as well so both panted for some seconds.

"Let's kiss."

"O. K.!"

They faced each other and began to share a passionate kiss while closing their arms around each other's neck and rubbing their cocks together: they both released and stained their upper torsos and faces.

"Heh, heh, heh! Let's clean up, Netto – kun."

"Yeah. I wanna feel it again."

They licked the stains off their faces and bodies to then continue with the kiss: they went off again and broke apart but they were connected by a string of saliva.

"I think I actually _like_ you, Saito – niisan."

"Haven't we always?"

Both giggled and blinked each other an eye…

20:33 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I still find it hilarious how that prophet _was_ right, but he tended to dramatize his prophecies and give them an Apocalypse Day – like tone… It's no wonder they got tired of him…"

"Yeah… And from what we've seen in other albums, they have a very peculiar sense of humor, too… But _Prophet Jeremy_ is definitely a very surprising history, since it does end up looking like his prophecies _are_ deadly."

Netto and Saito had changed into their pajamas and looked amused as they chatted with each other and looked out at the night skies while keeping the balcony door closed.

"… That of the dynamite and the dynamo was so silly… I'm surprised Tabuu went and used it twice." Netto grinned.

"… Yeah. I found hilarious that one about Commissioner Kifune attacking Manabe – san with "Visigoth fury"… I wonder why it had to be _Visigoth_ of all things…" Saito grinned as well.

"But the funniest part was Yaito telling Dekao he was gonna be the "harlequin" and Dekao asking if it was food! Meiru was about to slap him and he had to shut so Yaito told him he'd be the clown instead! Isn't that funny?" Netto laughed.

"Totally! Dekao will now learn that having a big mouth means bad luck so he'll be doomed to be the local clown. And to work on the Gorilla Idiom – Japanese dictionary, too…" Saito giggled.

"Alright! December is already here! The hard exams are coming up but we'll beat them! And then we'll begin the year 2012! What nerves! Heh, heh, heh!" Netto rallied.

"Sure thing. And let's hope I don't need to pull your ears to remind you of the pending homework, either." Saito reminded him.

Both laughed in a jovial tone of voice and looked like they were ready for a new adventure…

23:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Alas, alas. All good things come to an end, don't they? But… I ain't over yet! Heh, heh, heh. No… A new stage is waiting for me… Beyond that Time – Space gateway! Mwah, hah, hah! Too bad, _aibou_. No – one will be able to rival me there. But it's not like I wanna drive them crazy, either. No. I just want them to feel a thrill. Speaking of feelings, those "triumvirate" guys over there will feel angered at my return, won't they? Especially the big boss of the gang… He's set his sights on me and wants to make it personal, doesn't he~? Heh, heh, heh."

Sigaano Nogaano was standing inside of the WWW Island facility's main room and holding an attaché case: a glowing white "crack" had formed in the middle of the air and he was about to enter it.

"Let's give it a few minutes' time. I wanna time my departure with the bells of _mitternacht_. I'm fond of little dramatic things. And we'll start a new chapter there with a bit of drama and suspense. I do think I can use the services of a certain person… Heh, heh, heh."

He glanced at a wrist watch he carried and formed a smile as he removed his smoked sunglasses next to reveal how his eyes were but mere hollow cavities with a dull gray glow to them: his skin color began to a change to a bluish transparent tone as well.

"Heh, heh, heh. No more need for disguises. Yet I will keep on using avatars to interact with the guys there. Maybe I'm gonna repeat a stunt I've pulled these days and come up with useful agents to do the field work for me while I work on the big surprise of the season. My. That'd be somewhat of a spin-off of _aibou_'s gang yet he won't be around to start a patent war… Nor like he'd like to, either. He's not a guy wanting to quarrel over trivial things like Apple, Motorola, Goggle or Samsung. They're gonna destroy each other one day with _katanas_ and AKs – 47u… Kidding. Of course not… Heh, heh, heh. Ops. Time's up. Well then! Farewell!"

Laughing, he ran inside of the crack as the sound of bells rang out: his giggled echoed in the empty space even after the crack closed…

**THE END**


End file.
